Pocket dynamite Kolbe ready to explode
TOKYO, Oct 16, (RTRS): Attention to detail has been key to Japan’s success so far at the Rugby World Cup, with coach Jamie Joseph preparing the players in camp since January and stressing the need for different game plans for each opponent.
This stretches even as far as the junior members of the squad. Before each match, the reserve players have been studying the tactics of their opponents’ scrum and then replicating that in practice, giving the starting pack ideal preparation.
This has resulted in Japan consistently challenging their much heavier opponents at scrum time, something they will need to do on Sunday when they take on South Africa in the quarter-finals.
“We make a firm strategy for a good scrum,” said scrum coach Shin Hasegawa on Wednesday. “(Hooker Takuya) Kitade and (back row Yoshitaka) Tokunaga are contributing and help us build our scrummaging strategy.
“(They make us realise) what we want to do and what sort of scrum we want to have. When they are able to do this it gives us immense confidence.
“When an opponent changes, our scrummaging changes and players change.
“When we feel that we need to educate each player (on various way of scrummaging), non-team members help us and give us comfort.” Since taking over in 2016, Joseph has also looked to make his players’ more independent.
This has meant relying on a leadership group containing the likes of captain Michael Leitch, flanker Pieter Labuschagne and flyhalf Yu Tamura.
His coaches have also had to adapt.
“It is important for a coach to tell a player what he thinks but when I spoke to Jamie, I was told that I am being too much of a perfectionist,” conceded Hasegawa.
“He told me to let the players decide and give them independence. He taught me how players should spend a week to be able to correct themselves on the pitch.” Joseph even employed a mental coach, David Galbraith, who has been challenging his players in situations of stress to try and replicate the decisions they will have to make on the field.
“He makes quizzes and writes them on the whiteboard,” revealed hooker Atushi Sakate.
“It is part of the training, focusing on how to use your brain under pressure and in tough situations.
“You have to make decisions during the toughest time during the match. You use your brain. That is why it was put up when you have tough weightlifting training.” Japan know they will need all their wits about them against the experience of two-time champions South Africa in Tokyo on Sunday.
In a game increasingly being dominated by giants, South Africa winger Cheslin Kolbe has a warning for those who would write off the smaller players on the rugby field.
“There is a saying that dynamite comes in small packages,” he told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Springboks’ World Cup quarter-final against Japan. “(And) we all have something special we can contribute to our various teams.” Kolbe is officially listed at 1.71m (5’7”) tall and weighs about 80kg, though the 2016 Olympic sevens bronze medallist barely looks even that big.
Once labelled too small to play for the Springboks and told to consider a shift to scrumhalf if he wanted to play top level rugby, the 25-year-old has silenced his critics with his electrifying pace and nimble side-stepping.
In the Springboks tournament opener against the All Blacks, Kolbe turned Richie Mo’unga inside out three times before he was tackled in the corner by the New Zealand flyhalf, himself not much bigger than the Toulouse utility back.
Kolbe injured his ankle in their match against Italy, a game in which he scored two tries, ran for 100m with the ball in hand and somehow beat the 1.96m tall Sergio Parisse to a box kick.
The speedy winger missed South Africa’s final pool match against Canada but coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed on Monday he would play against Japan in Tokyo on Sunday.
The former Stormers player moved to Toulouse in 2017 and thought he would never pull on the Springboks jersey, until Erasmus took over as coach from Allister Coetzee.
“Obviously, you want to play in South Africa and represent your country playing in a Super Rugby team,” Kolbe said.
“It just shows you as a player that no matter where you are in your life if you play the best rugby at a time and there are coaches who look at players abroad then there’s an opportunity to represent your country.” Kolbe said he had been impressed by Japan’s own small packages of dynamite – Kenki Fukuoka and Kotaro Matsushima – as well as the Brave Blossoms’ style of play.
“Both the Japanese wingers are playing phenomenal rugby and have been on good form,” Kolbe said.
“Japan play some really exciting rugby and they love to give the ball air and want to stretch your defence structures.
“It’s definitely the style I want to play as well but we have our own structures and plan every week (and) ... we just have to make sure we cut down their options.”