Game on as Japan sets out to win hearts, minds
RWC 2019 is a bold venture, a step into the unknown. If it is a success, then the game will be immeasurably the better for it
● Rugby’s new frontier is bracing itself for unprecedented levels of scrutiny as well as for a nasty belt of weather as the Rugby World Cup enters its third day today.
But neither the skies above nor the sceptics and naysayers below can put a dampener on the obvious relish in this country. It is game time in this sprawling country and rugby’s mission is to make an immediate impression.
There has been an outpouring of hyperbole in the build-up as to how “ground-breaking” this World Cup will be, with figures bandied about to suggest that the opening weekend reached into more homes than there are to infinity and beyond. While we may smile at the excess, the figures are eye-watering — 1.8-million new participants in Asia, 43.1% of them female, with 112-million fans spread across the continent.
A step change
This, then, is the vast territory to be seduced, to be persuaded in Japan first that there is sporting life beyond sumo and baseball, and then on for years to come as rugby’s missionary work spreads into the East with all its people and all its money.
“A step change” was the phrase used by Brett Gosper, the World Rugby CE, as he sat at the top table alongside several of those in the Japanese community who had helped make all this happen from the moment the decision was taken in 2009 to break with convention and look outwards by awarding hosting rights to Japan.
This is to be the inclusive World Cup, a tournament of open doors and warm embraces.
It is the moment of revelation, a time to reflect on the wisdom or otherwise of that decision, an opportunity to see if the exuberant masses that have serenaded and applauded teams the length and breadth of this fascinating country at training bases from Miyazaki to Kitakyushu will stay with the oval-ball curiosity once the circus has left town.
The ninth edition
There are reservations even within the Japanese rugby community as to how well formed the legacy programme will be, given that even the president of the organising committee, Shigetaka Mori, admitted that they “hadn’t decided yet” how they would exploit this opportunity.
Even if a minority sport will take time to register on the consciousness of a nation of 120-million, there is no doubt that the World Cup itself is set for a crackerjack time across the next six weeks.
This is the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup and it is without doubt the most competitive.
There have only been four winners of the Webb Ellis Cup: New Zealand (three times), SA (twice), Australia (twice) and England.
It is high time that cabal admitted someone else to the club and while Wales’s prospects looked quite promising until the Rob Howley bolt from the blue this week, there is still a legitimate train of thought that the upheaval caused by the expulsion of the attack coach may have a circle-the-wagons effect.
The fact that Ireland are the third team in just the last few weeks to top a ranking system that had only ever had three other teams at its summit in 16 years, shows how engagingly volatile the standings are.
There are half-a-dozen prime contenders, with France and Argentina eminently capable of delivering a bloody nose from outside the front-runners.
New Zealand and SA set a resounding tone in Yokohama yesterday as the World Cup’s pre-eminent exponents.
The two sides have been revving up across the week, knowing that this was a statement fixture.
The World Cup was not won yesterday, but a marker was laid down.
RWC 2019 is also a marvellous opportunity for the northern hemisphere to show that it has more than just financial muscle to offer. In the 39 matches between north and south teams in World Cups, there have only been six European victories.
That is a pitiful return.
It will be a failure of considerable proportions if the northern hemisphere does not manage to step up to the plate. It would be good, too, if the tier-two countries could continue the trend of closing the gap on the well-resourced tier-one nations, the margin of difference having reduced from 48 points in 2013 to 31 points at the 2015 World Cup.
Fiji against Australia, Tonga against England, Georgia against Wales and then on to putative possibilities for Japan against Scotland later on.
The tournament will be diminished if the tier-two teams are swamped.
For now, though, the vibe is upbeat, the mood optimistic and the desire to welcome all comers heartfelt.
RWC 2019 is a bold venture, a step into the unknown, a gesture redolent with significance. If it is a success, then the game will be immeasurably the better for it. — © The Daily Telegraph, London
This is to be the inclusive World Cup, a tournament of open doors and warm embrace