2023-07-15 06:00:04
Present at each Rugby World Cup since its creation in 1987, Japan has changed status during the last two editions. The country has achieved stunning results by relying on local players and foreign reinforcements. And he hopes to succeed in shaking up the world hierarchy once once more this fall in France.
Published on: 07/15/2023 – 08:00
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Having worn it 71 times, Luke Thompson knows the Japanese team jersey well. He notably played in four Rugby World Cups with the “Cherry Blossoms”, also called “Brave Blossoms”. And he thinks that an invisible element will be added during the next edition in France: “a target in the back”. Because the Japanese, quarter-finalists in 2019, have acquired a new international status. “Nobody can afford to take a nap once morest them,” warns this experienced player in an interview with the Associated Press.
Aged 42, this third-line, who still plays in the Japanese championship, ended at the end of 2019 to twelve years of international career. He saw the Japanese selection gradually climb the world ladder: 3 defeats and a draw once morest Canada in 2007 and 2011, 3 victories, including a historic success once morest South Africa in 2015 and 4 matches won in 2019, notably once morest to Ireland and Scotland, which gave the Japanese their first qualification in the quarter-finals. This ended in a loss in Tokyo once morest South Africa (3-26), which will then win this World Cup organized in Japan.
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Born in New Zealand, Luke Thompson was one of the many foreign players who came to accompany the progression of the XV of Japan. The lucrative local championship attracts many players from Pacific nations, including Tonga. And as the international regulations allow a player who has resided three years in a row in a country to join the national team – provided he has not represented another country before – many Tongan, New Zealand, South Africans, Fijians, Koreans or Australians have chosen for twenty years to defend the colors of Japan.
The contribution of foreign players
The team lined up for the 2023 World Cup will be no exception to the rule since of the 36 players pre-selected to prepare for this competition, 17 were not born on Japanese soil. Some of them have very strong ties with the Land of the Rising Sun, like the emblematic third-row Michael Leitch. This New Zealand native came to Japan at the age of 15 to study. And he then knew the youth teams of Japan before joining the senior selection in 2008. He was the captain during the 2015 and 2019 editions of the World Cup and hopes, at 34, to play the one that France will to welcome.
Japan coach Jamie Joseph is also familiar with New Zealand and Japanese cultures. Substitute for the All Blacks in the 1995 World Cup final once morest South Africa, he came into play just before halftime of this meeting finally won by the Springboks. Jamie Joseph had just honored his twentieth and last selection with New Zealand. He then joined the Japanese championship and had been authorized to play for the Cherry Blossoms with whom he participated in the 1999 World Cup.
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At the head of the Japanese selection since 2016, Jamie Joseph strives to find a balance between experienced players and young local shooters. “Our strong points are our investment and the way we prepare. We also have a very attacking game which relies on our physical condition, our skill and our speed. It’s a little less orthodox game than that of our opponents”, analyzes coach Jamie Joseph, insisting on the “enormous work ethic” of his players.
Coach Jamie Joseph before a Japan game once morest Scotland in October 2021 at Murrayfield Stadium. AFP – ANDY BUCHANAN
He saw rugby transform on the archipelago with the launch, two years ago, of the Japan Rugby League One, a semi-professional championship. The latter brings together 25 teams divided into three levels, with an elite of 12 clubs which attracts many stars of world rugby. Often at the end of their careers, they contribute to raising the level of a competition which strives to attract more and more spectators and to develop the practice of this sport. Around 125,000 players are currently registered in the approximately 3,600 clubs in the country, with a very strong presence in the business world and academia.
A raised preparation
The organization in 2019 of the World Cup, the first in Asia, has logically aroused an unprecedented enthusiasm for this discipline in Japan. Japanese players enjoy great popularity at home, especially those who have managed to explode on the international scene. This is the case of the backs Ayumu Goromaru and Kotaro Matsushima who evolved in France in the Top 14, respectively with the clubs of Toulon and Clermont. The solid third line Kazuki Himeno, who passed through the New Zealand Highlanders in 2021, might well imitate them by joining a big European club in the coming months.
Kotaro Matsushima, present in the pre-selection for the World Cup, returned to play this season in Japan. He is preparing to experience intense preparation there with his Brave Blossoms teammates punctuated by 5 matches: two once morest the All Blacks 15, the New Zealand B team, then three test matches once morest Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.
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The Japanese will find Samoa in Group C of the World Cup-2023, with a match on September 28 in Toulouse. The other opponents of the Japanese in the group stage will be Chile, little thumb of the competition, and the formidable XV of England and Argentina. The challenge promises to be met for the Japanese selection, which currently occupies 10th place in the world. And if it has been able to prove in the recent past that it might beat better ranked teams in the World Cup, this time it will not be able to take advantage of the element of surprise as the Japanese rugby players have shone in the last two editions.
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