Japan led 33-3 at half-time.

Before the match John Kirwan, Japan's new coach, insisted that this was the best possible Japanese side. When the teams last met, in April 2005, Japan won 91-3.

Hong Kong now play Korea on Tuesday in the three-team tournament and then Japan play Korea on Saturday. The winner of the tournament goes directly to France. The team placed second - hence great interest in Tuesday's match - will play Tonga in répechage, the winner of that match going on to France.

In the first half New Zealand flank Phil O'Reilly scored a hat-trick of tries as Japan raced to a 15-0 lead after 15 minutes, after which scrumhalf Robert Naylor scored Hong Kong's only points. The first try came after just two minutes as the Brave Blossoms' pack took control, denying Hong Kong possession.

Wing Daisuke Ohata, the recorder holder for the most individual tries in Test rugby's history, added to his tally. It now stands at 66 tries from 56 Tests.

The score would have been higher but for poor goal-kicking by nervous debutant Go Aruga.Aruga's father Ken also played for Japan, making them the first father-and-son combination in the history of Japan's rugby.

Scorers:

For Japan:
Tries: O'Reilly 3, Ohata, Onozawa, Yamamoto, Ono, Aruga, Akatsuka
Con: Aruga 2
Pen: Sawaki

For Hong Kong:
Pen: Naylor

Teams:

Hong Kong: 15 Tsang Hing Hung, 14 Ricky Cheuk Ming Yin, 13 Jason Going, 12 Mark Wright, 11 Simon Smith, 10 Colin Bisley, 9 Robert Naylor, 8 Semi Iafeta, 7 Nigel Clarke, 6 Yuen Kin Ho, 5 Ryan McBride, 4 Daniel O’Connor, 3 Nigel Hobler, 2 Tom Cameron (captain), 1 Pete Spizzirri
Replacements: 16 Simon Leung, 17 James Wood, 18 Kris Marin, 19 Justin Gregory, 20 Fan Shun Kei, 21 Andrew Chambers, 22 Tom Breen

Japan: 15 Go Aruga, 14 Daisuke Ohata (captain), 13 Hideyui Yoshida, 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Keisuke Sawaki, 9 Shota Goto, 8 Takuro Miuchi, 7 Philip O’Reilly, 6 Hajime Kiso, 5 Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Ryo Yamamura, 2 Mitsugu Yamamoto, 1 Tatsukichi Nishiura
Replacements: 16 Yuji Matsubara, 17 Yuichi Hisadomi, 18 Takashi Akatsuka, 19 Ryota Asano, 20 Mamoru Ito, 21 Tomoki Kitagawa, 22 Kenji Shomen

Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Touch judges: James Leckie, George Ayoub (both Australia)