Japan blossom into contenders

Japan reeled off their tenth consecutive Test win yesterday when they defeated Italy 26-23 in Tokyo after which coach Eddie Jones re-iterated his new goal of seeing the Brave Blossoms reach the quarter-finals of next year's World Cup.
When Jones succeeded John Kirwan as national coach in 2012 the stated aim was to somehow build a team to confound nature and the critics and reach the last eight of the 2019 World Cup which is, of course, in Japan.
In light of recent events, however, Jones is reassessing the situation.
“We've got to keep winning but we've got to win at the World Cup,” said a delighted Jones after Japan fought off a late Italian rally.
“It's no use winning up to the World Cup and not winning once you get there, like the Japan soccer team. I want to make the World Cup quarter-finals and become Japan's most popular sports team. There's no reason we can't.
“The great thing today was we won. We didn't play well but it's a testament to the guys that we're beginning to win when things are not going well for us.
“It was a hard day at the office but the scrum held up very well. To beat them today was a wonderful step for the team but we're a long way from where we want to be. But we don't have to be at our best until the World Cup.
“Test rugby is never perfect rugby. It's just about winning.”
Against Italy yesterday the scores were level at 13-13 going into half-time before the Brave Blossoms began to exert their authority with a try from Melbourne Rebels centre Male Sa'u and the accurate goal-kicking of Ayumu Goromaru, who finished with 16 points in total, taking them into a 26-16 lead.
Robert Barbieri scored a late try for Italy to add to a first-half penalty try but, in truth, Italy rarely threatened as they slumped to their ninth consecutive defeat.
Although some of those ten victories in their current purple patch came against absolute minnows, Japan's run also includes away wins against USA and Canada and a thumping home win over a Samoan XV, albeit the Islanders were shorn of many of their overseas players.
It does beg the question though: Could Japan, who reached the top ten in the IRB World rankings for the first time ever as a result of their lasted win, ever become the “best of the rest”.
Historically Japan only have one World Cup victory to reflect on, Zimbabwe in 1991, and although it is unthinkable that South Africa finish anything other than Pool winners the battle for the runners-up spot between Scotland, USA, Samoa and Japan looks unusually open. Jones says: “If you don't want to make the finals, there's no use going. You might as well not compete. We want to make the quarter-finals.
“This team are on the verge of doing something really good for Japanese rugby. Japan needs it because they host the 2019 World Cup. They need a vibrant national team.
“To just say you want to win two games means that you're going to lose two games. We want to go there and win every game.
“Japanese rugby's always had an inferiority complex. When Japan get to the big stage, they get intimidated quite easily, particularly by the bigger, physical sides. We're trying to encourage the players to have the confidence that the way we play will stand up under any conditions.”
Jones believes the upturn in Japanese fortunes dates back to beating a Wales XV last summer and the boost in confidence that provided. “We beat Wales last year – admittedly Wales without some of their best players – but we stood up to them physically and didn't take any rubbish and that was a big step forward.”
“We're still a team that struggles to play 80 minutes at the tempo we want to play. There's not too many 6ft 3in 110kg players in Japan. We've got to play smart because we physically can't go out there and bash the opposition. We've got to out-think them.”
Meanwhile Italy captain Quintin Geldenhuys was certainly impressed:  “All credit to them. They are a completely different team from the one we played three years ago. They've improved a lot in all phases. Now they're playing in the men's league.”
BRENDAN GALLAGHER
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on June 22.