Japan forwards wilt under Georgian pressure

Japan's unbeaten run in test matches came to an end Sunday in Tbilisi as they were overpowered 35-24 by Georgia.

Hopes of an unbeaten 2014 vanished as the Brave Blossoms pack wilted badly, earning the wrath of referee Romain Poite early on.

The Frenchman eventually sent two Japan forwards to the bin, making a difficult task nigh on impossible, so to an extent it wasn't a bad effort to stay within 11 points.

Particularly as the side that started the game at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium was a long, long way short of the run-on XV that is expected to start Japan's opening game of Rugby World Cup 2015.

Japan coach Eddie Jones admitted his side were naive in dealing with Poite's interpretation at scrum time, while the players admitted they let themselves down with far too many errors.

The end result is Japan's record over the course of 2014 is 9-1, though if you include the two non-test matches against the Maori All Blacks, they lost three of the last four games.

As Jones said it was a good learning experience, and the Australian and his coaching crew will be burning the midnight oil as they look to rectify the problems that once again surfaced in the tight and at the breakdown.

On the bright side, the autumn games unearthed two gems in Amanaki Lelei Mafi and Karne Hesketh, who combined to score the try of the game, all the more amazing given it came from a scrum while Japan were a man down.

Lelei Mafi has real pace off the back of the scrum, while Hesketh was full of running and his vision and willingness to come off his wing resulted in two tries.

Keita Inagaki also had a good start to his international career and he count himself unlucky getting a yellow card on Sunday as it was more the result of Poite's impatience with the props that started the game than anything he did in his 14 minutes on the field.

The squad that reassembles in the new year will be markedly different with around 10 players set to return from injury, meaning a few of those involved in the past few weeks will need to lift up a gear or two in the remaining Top League games if they want to return to Europe in September next year for the World Cup.