IT IS A measure of where Japanese rugby currently stands that after half an hour spent talking about the team he had just selected to play just their fourth Test in two years, Jamie Joseph ended up delivering a eulogy to a member of the opposition.
Then again, it is Johnny Sexton’s 100th cap on Saturday.
Strangely none of the previous 99 have been against Japan, again a measure of their status, their cruel exclusion from meaningful international competition in between World Cups doing absolutely nothing to grow the world game.
While Joseph, the former All Black who masterminded Japan’s win over Ireland in the 2019 World Cup, was predictably polite about Sexton, referencing his qualities as a player and a person, it was a sentence he delivered a moment later which lingered longer in the mind.
“In Japan we need to stay disciplined against Tier One teams; if we do then we can play our way, our game.”
They certainly can. Japan now is rugby’s answer to Cameroon post Italia 90, easy on the eye, tricky to play against.
The power game simply isn’t in their DNA and won’t ever be. Theirs is a unique style, the opposite to the turgid stuff delivered by the Lions and Springboks during the summer.
“We have to deal with stuff when we don’t have the ball. We expect the bigger teams are going to target our pack, so that is always our challenge. For us, when we get those things right, what we have shown in the past, at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, is that we can win Test matches.”
Yet since 2019, they have played just three Tests. They scared Ireland and the Lions in June, Australia last week, but still lost each game. Penalties kept going against them. “We spoke a lot about that during the week,” said Joseph. “We need to make smart decisions.”
With this in mind, he decided to select 11 players who have World Cup experience, mentioning on three different occasions how he is expecting an aerial bombardment from Ireland this Saturday.
“The anticipation is that there will be a lot of contestable kicks from the Irish, it’s a trend around their game and we’re expecting to deal with that pressure on our back three.
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📆 Saturday, 6 November
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“They have a very experienced pack, a very good pack, and they will target our set-piece. So we are expecting that battle up front, knowing that we’ve done okay in matches whenever we have had some success there – because we also know, if we get enough ball, we have exciting backs who can create and take chances and the trend on Saturday will not be any different.”
Discipline, Joseph stressed, will be key: “If we’re going to concede a high number of penalties, we will be in trouble,” he said. “We’ve spoken about being more accurate on details of skills and decisions that we make…so it is a challenge but we’re looking forward to meeting it.”
He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)