On the other side of the draw’
World Cup winners won all their pool matches. Fiji, in 2007, are the only previous “tier-two” country to reach the last eight.
Japan possess the tournament’s joint-top try scorer in Kotaro Matsushima, who has five, while Yu Tamura, their fly-half, leads the points-scoring with 48.
The wonder of Japan’s exhilarating, tenacious performance in Yokohama on Sunday night, is that the country was already awash with emotion of a sadder kind when the game kicked off. Composure and clearheadedness were rendered intensely difficult by the historic nature of the mission and the
1 Fluid formation of forwards Japan’s slick attack is founded on a zonal, 1-3-2-2 formation of forwards with backs fitting in around that. Crucially, though, their heavy men are comfortable at fulfilling different roles. For example, hooker Shota Horie can distribute and carry as part of a central three-man pod or roam out wide, while Michael Leitch and Kazuki Himeno (pictured) are equally versatile.
2 Conviction and cohesion in defence Kenki Fukuoka’s second try arrived from a fantastic defensive read by Leitch (pictured), who shot up to shackle Stuart Hogg as Scotland attempted a bounce-back play. Timothy Lafaele and then Fukuoka
did likewise and they are similar at the breakdown – Japan’s players trust one another.
3 Magic touches
Japan are not inhibited by their structure and have the skill to offload, as Keita Inagaki’s wonderful try demonstrated. Lafaele’s grubber through (pictured), into the space behind Finn Russell, for Fukuoka’s first five-pointer also illustrated the capacity to go off the cuff.
4 Skilful and scuttling scrum-halves Standing 5ft 5in and weighing 11st, scrum-half Yutaka Nagare can run and run. He shuttles between breakdowns firing crisp passes. On Sunday, Nagare threw 75 passes in 50 minutes without kicking once. backdrop of Typhoon Hagibis, not to mention the threat of cancellation.
“We’ll keep on working to give Japan the courage through rugby, and getting the result,” said Kazuki Himeno. His words resounded across Japanese rugby on a day when the death toll rose to “at least 35”, with 17 missing.
“It puts things in perspective. There was a lot of talk about the game not going on and there are people losing their lives and their homes,” said Luke Thompson. “We are just playing a sport and if we can offer some hope or motivation – just a little break from the loss and sadness that some people are experiencing – that’s a huge thing for us.
“Unlike four years ago, we’re no longer sneaking in under the radar and we have beaten two tier-one teams and finished top of our pool. We have created history and some pretty amazing things for Japan rugby, but the tournament is not finished.”
So much of this is uncharted territory for rugby, from players bowing to the crowd when they come off to Joseph finding himself mobbed by “50 people” when he walks through Tokyo station. But there is more to it than quirkiness and romance. When rugby frets about selling itself, there could be no better hook than a team who win the ball back with lethal speed and then treat space as something to be attacked and enjoyed.
Elsewhere in large parts of rugby, the hit is the thing – “taking the ball up” and smashing down the wall. In this religion, the opposition exist to be battered, worn down. It becomes a game of physical subjugation in which self-expression is allowed when the set-piece battle has been won.
Japan can fight their corner too. They made immense physical sacrifices against Scotland. But they did the damage with bold hearts and free running. And now nobody fancies playing them.