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pacific-nations-cup
TOKYO: Japan lock Jack Cornelsen spoke of the impact the forward pack was able to make with their dominance as the Brave Blossoms continued to claim the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2026 title on a “special” night in Tokyo.
The Brave Blossoms lost the 2024 and 2025 PNC deciders, but gave themselves another shot at silverware with a semifinal win over USA Eagles. They played the Flying Fijians on Saturday night and won 20-15 in a thriller at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
Cornelsen, who started at No. 8 in a clinical 49-point win over the USA Eagles in Osaka, was part of a Brave Blossoms pack that had plenty of success. Japan set up a scrum time marker and put a lot of pressure on the defensive lines.
Fiji they were held to less than a 65 percent win rate on lineouts, and the team conceded 14 penalties on the night – some of which came in scrum time. The kick also proved effective, leading to a yellow card against Fiji’s Mesaka Doge in the first half.
“It’s not the type of game that probably any team usually plays; quite stop-start, a lot of scrum set-pieces. A bit different to what we’re used to,” Cornelsen said RugbyPass.
“The front row did a great job there at scrum time to put them under pressure and the scrum really gave us a platform.
“We always talk about how, as a forward, we can put other teams under pressure in the opening game. I think a lot of teams probably overlook our scrum and our maul. The last few games that’s been our strength and hopefully that’s something we can continue to build on.”
Substitute Samisoni Tua scored what proved to be the winning try with nine minutes remaining and the Brave Blossoms dominated possession from then on, holding on for a memorable result in front of 17,421 fans.
The Tokyo crowd was incredibly loud and passionate throughout the 80-minute contest – except when the players lined up shots on goal, that’s when you could hear a pin drop. You could feel the tension as the clock ticked down towards full time and then the stadium erupted into celebratory cheers.
“We don’t really get to play for too many trophies, so when we do, it’s pretty special,” Cornelsen said.
“We came up short (twice) so to finally get this group, definitely pretty special.”
