Rookie prop Nakajima says Japan’s win was ‘best ever’

Four months ago Isileli Nakajima had never played prop but on Saturday he packed down in the frontrow and helped Japan stun the globe with victory over Ireland.

The Tongan-born front-rower with the gold tooth and the beaming smile climbed off the bench and sustained the Brave Blossoms’ scrum ascendancy right until the death.

And when Japan’s 19-12 triumph in Shizuoka was complete, Nakajima admitted he hardly knew what to do with himself, the 30-year-old accepting the victory as the pinnacle of his playing days.

Nakajima was battling along as a No 8 with Kobe Steelers until Japan’s coaches convinced him to make the front-row switch – and the hulking forward insisted he never had any doubts about completing his transition, not even with the complex technical aspects.

“This is my first World Cup and I’ve only been playing prop for four months, so to play this kind of game at this point and get this kind of win – it’s amazing,” said a jubilant Nakajima.

“Transitioning to prop was never difficult because we have great coaches, they believe in what I can do. So I just believe them and stick to their plan.

“We talk every day, for a long time, we have a lot of chats and meetings about how to scrum. So I just believed them, trusted in them, and that’s where my confidence has come from. That’s the peak of my career. We’ve been working for years towards this match, we stuck to our plan and did a good job. This is Japan’s best-ever victory, I think.”