Japan win ten in a row to get in IRB Top 10
Since November last year, Japan had beaten Russia and Spain on their end-of-year tour. Last month they won against The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Korea and Hong Kong in Asia Five Nations, which acted as a RWC qualifier.
After that they beat Samoa at home and Canada and USA away—nine straight.
On the weekend they beat Six Nations country Italy 26-23 in a squeaker in Tokyo. Although they had never beaten Italy in six attempts it wasn’t a huge surprise because Japan had beaten Wales at home a year ago, albeit without a lot of Lions.
And Italy were on a streak of their own, a bad one, because they had lost nine in a row since they beat Fiji last November, when the Islanders were reduced to 11 men. But they had no excuse losing to Japan because they had their best team on deck but for a few injured players at home.
Apart from the scrum it wasn’t Japan’s best performance and their lineout was poor. But the Brave Blossoms were able to hold onto win after the Italians dropped too much ball and gave away too many penalties.
Male Sa’u – his try was the turning point
Shota Horie started at hooker for Japan and his Melbourne Rebels’ team mate Male Sa’u ran on as outside centre.
At the hour mark the turning point of the game came after a series of charges at the line when defenders were sucked in and the ball was moved wide. Sa’u got it and powered through defenders to score.
The conversion made the score 26-16 and although Italy pressured the home team and scored near the end of the game Japan held onto win 26-23 in front of an excited home crowd.
Coach Eddie Jones who famously sprayed his team at a press conference two years ago was mellow despite the way they won.
In test match rugby you need to find areas you can win and maximize those areas and I thought we did that well in the end.
But it is a testament to the team that we can win when things aren’t going well.
Eddie Jones 43.7% certain that Japan can make the 2015 RWC Quarter Finals
Jones wasn’t that impressed by the streak though and said he didn’t want to be like the Japan soccer team—it was more important to win at the Rugby World Cup next year than before it started.
I want to make the quarterfinals of the World Cup and become the most popular sports team in Japan. There’s no reason why we can’t.
As a result of the win Japan is now in tenth place in the IRB rankings—ahead of Fiji and Argentina.
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