Boks wary of Japanese ‘Ferraris’
STICK: BOKS WILL LOOK TO KEEP SPEEDSTERS AT BAY
Monster pack of forwards and sound kicking the key to success.
Rudolph Jacobs
The Springboks are wary of the threat posed by Japan’s speedy wings in this weekend’s World Cup quarterfinal in Tokyo. Between left wing Kenki Fukuoka and right wing Kotaro Matsushima, the duo scored three of Japan’s four tries in last week’s thrilling 28-21 win over Scotland.
Using his blistering speed, Fukuoka scored twice to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, while Matsushima racked up his fifth try of the tournament.
“Jamie Joseph (Japan’s head coach) compared those two wings to Ferrari cars, so we are going to have to be at our best and not allow those Ferrari cars to get into fifth gear,” said Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus was set to name his side tomorrow and the big talking points revolved around whether he would give Bongi Mbonambi a start at hooker ahead of Malcolm Marx, and if he would persist with fullback Willie le Roux and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, who had been struggling with their form.
“As a coaching team we still have to finalise how we’re going to play against them,” Stick said.
“They have a good coaching side so irrespective of how we’re going to come and play against them, we know that they will be able to keep up with it.”
Japan’s success in the pool stage of the tournament had been based on a fast-paced game coupled with slick handling, and the Boks were expected to try and slow them down with their monster pack and sound kicking.
“We know the plan is to keep the ball in play for close to 50 minutes, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us,” Stick said.
“But we’re trying to adjust to make sure we can keep up with them.”
With the winner of Sunday’s match facing either Wales or France in the semifinals, a capacity Yokohama Stadium packed with 67 000 fans could provide an extra weapon for the hosts in the crucial fixture.
“We know they will be playing with a lot of passion as the hosts,” Stick said.
“The support will be behind them and we could sense the vibe in the stadium at Yokohama, even when we were watching on TV when they played Scotland.”
Tokyo
Japan’s stunning Rugby World Cup performances have made the rest of the game “sit up and take notice”, World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said yesterday, vowing more top fixtures for the Brave Blossoms.
Wins over Scotland and Ireland have earned the Japanese team a place in history as the first Asian side to qualify for the World Cup quarterfinals, and Beaumont said they now deserved a seat at the top table.
“I think the ranking of the Japanese team is seven, which when you’ve beaten the team that [was] two [Ireland], you sit up and take notice,” said Beaumont.
Teams in world rugby are divided into so-called Tier One – the 10 sides that play in the northern hemisphere Six Nations and the Rugby Championship in the south – and Tier Two, the level below them.
Japanese captain Michael Leitch said his team was representing Tier Two in the quarterfinal, as the only “have-not” to get through to the last-eight.
Many coaches from the lower-ranked sides have pointed to a lack of fixtures against the top teams as a reason they have struggled to make progress. But Beaumont said the number of fixtures between Tier One and Tier Two has increased by some 30%.
Fixtures are scheduled some 12 years in advance and one-off games have to fit around the annual competitions of the Six Nations and Rugby Championship, as well as international tours and the British and Irish Lions tour.
World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper said the gap between the two groups was closing.
The average points difference in match-ups between Tier One and Two teams was 30 points, Gosper said, making Japan 2019 “the most competitive tournament ever”.
Gosper noted “impressive performances across the board” by lower-ranked nations and players, pointing to Fiji’s Semi Radradra, who topped the table for most carries, most metres run and most defenders beaten.
There has been some disappointment that none of the Pacific Island nations – Fiji, Tonga or Samoa – qualified but Gosper said they had “accounted for themselves very well”.
As for Japan, Beaumont vowed to set up more fixtures between the Brave Blossoms and Tier One teams, stressing that the Japanese could now pull big crowds.
“What we are trying to do is look at all our competitions, so we can get more Tier One fixtures for Japan,” he said. “If I was the treasurer of any country, you’d want Japan to come and play you because you know they are going to attract spectators and interest.
“For a lot of established unions, they have almost changed the face of how rugby should be played.” –