A year on, we remember Japan beating the Boks in World Cup
Brendan Gallagher looks back at a famous day and at what happened next for the Brave Blossoms
Ayear ago this weekend Japan stunned the rugby world with their remarkable 34-32 win over South Africa at the Amex Stadium, Brighton. Such David v Goliath upset wins aren’t meant to happen in Rugby Union – the laws have almost been designed to prevent that happening – but somehow the Brave Blossoms pulled off a ‘miracle’ win over the mighty Boks.
The background
Japan, operating way under the radar, had been improving steadily in the build up to RWC2015 and were much stronger than they were being given credit for.
Soon after Eddie Jones took over after RWC2011 the graph started to head steadily upwards. There was a drawn home series against a decent Wales XV in June 2013 and although Japan got well beaten by New Zealand later that year they took the lessons on board and moved straight into a run of 11 consecutive Test match wins over the next 12 months against all opposition.
Some of those wins were against weak Asian neighbours but rock solid victories over Samoa, Canada, Romania, USA and Italy hinted that Japan were on to something good.
“I was trying to create an environment in which being aggressive is okay,” recalls Jones. “Almost all our training was rival against rival, every drill became a competition in which there must be a winner. Japanese players don’t really want to embarrass their mates in the gym by lifting more or to leave them for dead in the sprints.
“All the time I was looking for an edge. Every week we had a full on 30-minute session in which we did everything between 40-60 per cent quicker than in normal game speed. It’s like speeding the film up. If you can handle under that pressure, then mentally it feels just a bit easier and more comfortable when you play at match speed.”
As 2015 hove into view, Jones demonstrated that instinctive touch that has often served him well as a coach. Having already encouraged some of his best players to scatter and experience Super Rugby he then decided to rest the vast majority of his potential starting XV throughout the summer of 2015 when there was a Pacific Nations tournament to contest before the World Cup.
Japan under Jones were all about high tempo, high intensity, quick thinking “ruck and roll rugby” which relies heavily on supreme fitness and mental freshness to execute. Japan stood no chance if they arrived at the World Cup tired and battered. It was risky though because the Blossoms had built up a head of steam and there was a danger of losing momentum.
The build-up
Although a largely second string managed to beat Canada first up, Japan then lost to USA, Fiji and Tonga in quick succession in the Pacific Rim tournament which fooled some into thinking the bubble had burst. Later in the summer Jones eased a few of his names back into action in a low key double-header against Uruguay in Japan but the only full-scale warm-up they indulged in was a 13-10 win against Georgia at Kingsholm two weeks before the Springboks showdown.
A very good and deliberate choice of opponents that. In terms of scrummaging power and general physicality and snarl up front, Georgia do a pretty useful impersonation of the Springboks these days. Taking on their pack was an excellent dummy run for the Blossoms.
As for South Africa, the picture was confusing. They had lost all three matches in an abbreviated Rugby Championship to finish bottom but there were periods of excellence – they should for example probably have beaten the All Blacks in Johannesburg when they somehow managed to snatch a 27-20 defeat from the jaws of victory.
The Boks had also organised a warm-up game in Argentina a week after their final Championship match there and beaten the Pumas handily 26-12 in Buenos Aires but that game was fully five weeks before the match in Brighton with only a couple of controlled training camp hit-outs against Namibia in between.
That preparation was less than ideal. Meanwhile during that period Japan played three Tests – Uruguay twice and Georgia. Okay, very much Tier Two opposition but a full Test always has a different kind of intensity about it
Come the big day in Brighton I am not aware of a single journalist or pundit anywhere on the planet predicting a Japan win but it should still be stated that the 80-1 odds being offered by many bookmakers on a Japan win were ridiculous in a twohorse race and bordered on the
insulting. I would have set them at about 20-1.
Realistically the Brave Blossoms were very real live contenders for runners-up spot in their Pool. A Japan win over Scotland or Samoa – or even both – was not beyond the realms of possibility. South Africa, however, were a different matter, though, surely?
How the match was won
Japan’s win may have defied the odds but it doesn’t defy analysis. It was absolutely textbook. Against a team like South Africa Japan have to survive in the set-piece and in the arm wrestles. After that, courage, fitness and skill came into play, but nothing could happen without near parity up front. Which is exactly what they achieved.
At scrum-time all the hard work and experience of scrum coach Marc Dal Maso paid off as they packed down beautifully low and won all seven of their completed scrums without stress, indeed on a number of occasions they marched the Boks back. The starting front row of Kensuke Hatakayama, warrior hooker Shota Horie and Masataka Mikami all had the games of their lives and, when the props came off, Keita Inagaki and Takeshi Kizu continued the good work.
It was the same story in the lineouts where Steve Borthwick had been drilling the pack for the best part of 12 months. A return of 12 lineout wins – mostly good quality – out of 13 Japan throw-ins tells its own story. No matter how good the opposition they will struggle to beat you if they are starved of the ball, or at least reduced to working with less possession than they are used to, or expected.
The Japanese maintained that philosophy throughout. Ultra-efficient and quick-witted they retained possession at 81 of the 83 rucks they formed and four of the five driving mauls. Meanwhile, although their passing was excellent and fluent the official match stats record no off-loads whatsoever from Japan. On the day that was a risk too far and they deliberately moved the ball just prior to contact.
Japan conceded eight penalties to South Africa’s 12 and, as they usually do, Japan avoided any yellow cards while South Africa picked up one. Small margins but under extreme pressure they could scarcely have done more to equalise the game in terms of possession and territory.
After that it was down to cashing in on the pressure with accurate goal kicking and taking the try-scoring opportunities. Wonderfully quick hands and powerful running saw them score three tries, two of which were candidates for try of the tournament. Add to that the 19 points from the boot of Ayumu Goromaru and you have the basis for success.
If you score 34 points in a World Cup match you are going to be ball park, no matter what the opposition. Finally there was Japan’s Samurai sprit. Having played and competed magnificently they were trailing by three points at the death when awarded a very kickable penalty. An historic draw beckoned and even Jones admitted afterwards he would have kicked for goal.
But no. Alone among the world’s rugby playing community the Japanese players had always felt they could win and it was victory, nothing less, they craved. So off they went again in that multi-phase move that resulted in Kane Hesketh diving in at the corner.
What happened next
First, the rugby world went mad and congratulations flowed in from all quarters. It was great but such was the lot of Tier Two nations at RWC2015 that just 92 hours later they had to play a determined and fresh Scotland at Kingsholm on a much heavier track.
Lightning doesn’t tend to strike twice and after making a game of it for the first half, weary Japan imploded and an impressive Scotland side ran away with the contest 45-10.
It was in the days that followed that Japan really showed their mettle. With ten days to get back on an even keel they went to work and their 26-5 win at Milton Keynes over a Samoa side trying to redeem their World Cup was deeply impressive before they finished off in style with a 28-18 win over the USA at Kingsholm. Remarkably three wins in four games was not enough to see Japan through to the quarterfinals, the first time that has ever happened. It was a pitiful reward for a stunning tournament.
Since then it has been interesting times. Japan were resigned to losing Eddie Jones although they thought to the Stormers, and not England. With the 2019 World Cup beginning to loom there might have been temptation to panic but the Japanese Union did the sensible thing and marked time with an interim coach – Mark Hammett – until they could make a suitable long term appointment, Jamie Joseph who had done so well for the Highlanders.
The other big development – coincidental rather than as a result of a great World Cup – was the appearance of the Sunwolves in Super Rugby. They found it tough going with just one win although they weren’t the only ones with the Kings and the Force only managing two apiece.
What it has done is expose this generation of Japanese players – 29 of the Sunwolves squad are Japanese – to a higher level of domestic rugby while four or five other members of the national squad still play for other Super Rugby squads.
Internationally Japan’s only serious test this summer came when they hosted Scotland, losing the Tests 26-13 and 21-16. No cigar but reassuringly ball-park during a difficult transitionary year. Now the challenge is for Joseph to build on the Jones’ legacy.