The Rise of the Cherry Blossoms

[TOCC]

Possibly the least intimidating name of any professional sporting team in the world, the Cherry Blossoms or more recently the Cherry Braves side have made massive strides the past 24months months under Eddie Jones and on Saturday defeated Italy, having already accounted for teams like Samoa, Canada,Wales(minus B&I Lions players) and the USA already in the past 12 months. They have broken into the Top 10 of the IRB rankings for the first time in their history and are sitting ahead of teams like Argentina, Fiji, Tonga and Italy.

If we look ahead to the 2015 RWC, they are in the pool with South Africa(3rd), Samoa(9), Scotland(8) and the USA(18). The Cherry Blossoms actually stand a very good chance to pick up a win against one of those countries, and could quite potentially qualify for the RWC Quarter Finals.

A big turnaround for them has been in the scrum, they actually have a rather formidable scrum these days:

If you look at their team its not as though they are overflowing with imports either, at a quick glance they typically only feature 3 or 4 'imports' in their match day squads.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Love watching Japan play. They've got massive amounts of ticker for a bunch of blokes who frequently give away a substantial amount size wise. Can't wait to see them at the RWC.

 

[Pfitzy]

Possibly the least intimidating name of any professional sporting team in the world, the Cherry Blossoms or more recently the Cherry Braves

Brave Blossoms innit?

 

[Omar Comin']

They're great to watch and play such a quick game.

Having a few of their top players involved in Super Rugby has really helped. Tanaka, Sau and Horie are class. Their captain Michael Leitch (NZ born, but has lived in Japan since high school and is a fluent Japanese speaker) is also a very good player. Given all the top class players and coaches that have been brought to their Top League over the last few seasons the competition standards must be improving. But I guess a problem is that most of the local players are not fully professional. They're employees of the companies they play for and train after work each day alongside their foreign professionals.

Long term it's surely going to be better for them to join Super Rugby. I'd love to see an Asian conference set up.

No doubt they'd had some great wins over the past 12 months. The Maori All Blacks will apparently be touring Japan in November, so that will be another step up. I'd love to see the Wallabies play a test in Japan on the way over to Europe like the All Blacks did last year. It's a good way to give match time to the extended squad.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Possibly the least intimidating name of any professional sporting team in the world, the Cherry Blossoms or more recently the Cherry Braves <snip>.

Down our way, there is the Coogee Seahorses Rugby Club. While they are not a professional sporting team, I reckon they would be in the run for a "not particularly intimidating name" medal.

Back on topic. The victory over Wales 23-8 last year was a significant point. The headlines read "Japan beats Wales".
My mate said, "Yeah I know. That's why that Sea Shepherd mob chase the Japanese boats all around the Antarctic".

 

[qwerty51]

Steve Borthwick was a good acquisition by Jones. Set-piece king.

 

[Aussie D]

Who would have thought that a team's scrum would improve when the head coach is Eddie 'you only need 7 minutes for scrum training' Jones. Has he developed as a coach since being shown the door by the Wallabies and Reds?

 

[Badger]

Possibly the least intimidating name of any professional sporting team in the world, the Cherry Blossoms or more recently the Cherry Braves......

Waratahs would give Cherry Blossoms a run for its money as least intimidating.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Japan are on the up which is great for them, the upcoming RWC, & the RWC that they'll host after.. One of the reasons I'd love them to enter a team in Super Rugby is that their lack of size often means they play a faster running based game. Very fun side to watch.