The Latest: Dan Cron vs Mike Cron: father takes rugby honors

TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on Day 12 at the Rugby World Cup (all times local):

12:05 p.m.

Tonga assistant coach Dan Cron has four photographs at his home in Wellington, New Zealand — mementoes of the times teams he has coached have faced teams coached by his father, New Zealand scrum coach Mike Cron.

So far it’s not a fair fight. The cumulative score is 244-47 in favor of the elder Cron.

Their first meeting was during Dan Cron’s time with Tonga in the opening match of Rugby World Cup in 2011 at Eden Park in Auckland. New Zealand won 41-10. Dan was with Samoa in 2017 when they played the All Blacks in a 78-0 loss. A recent All Blacks-Tonga World Cup warm-up match ended 92-7. The fourth — when Mike was with the Panasonic Wild Knights and Dan with Suntory Sungoliath in Japan — was a lot closer.

“We were 30-0 up at halftime, but then they brought on their stars and won 33-30,” Dan Cron told the tournament website Tuesday. “I thought I had him that day. I will get him one day.”

New Zealand beat South Africa and plays its second Pool B match against Canada in Oita on Wednesday. In Pool C, Tonga has lost to England and Argentina.

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10:30 a.m.

After playing the same side against Japan and Samoa in five days, has Russia made nine changes to the starting lineup facing Ireland in the Rugby World Cup on Thursday in Kobe.

The only six starters retained on Tuesday for a third straight Pool A match are prop Kirill Gotovtsev, lock Bogdan Fedotko, flanker Tagir Gadzhiev, midfielder Kirill Golosnitskiy, wing German Davydov, and fullback and captain Vasily Artemyev.

Flyhalf Yuri Kushnarev, Russia’s all-time record holder for caps and points, missed out on the matchday 23.

Russia lost to Japan 30-10 and four days later lost to Samoa 34-9. Both times Russia faded in the second half.

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