Japan produced the biggest upset ever at the Rugby World Cup with a win over South Africa in the group stage a year ago in the marquee tournament in the 15-a-side game.
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Teruya Goto and Kameli Soejima scored the tries for Japan and, crucially, Lemeki and Katsuyuki Sakai slotted the conversions.
Britain led New Zealand 21-0 at half-time and clung on as the All Blacks responded with three second-half tries. “He’s got a great work ethic”, Tietjens said. The All Blacks have not only retained the Bledisloe Cup, they’ve also won two World Cups – beating Australia in the final previous year. It is really, we are just playing rugby and that is what we are used to.
New Zealand captain Scott Curry touched down under the posts, after Gillies Kaka made a strong burst up the right flank and floated a long pass in-field, and it was 7-7 at halftime. But we’re number one in the world, we’re not trying to be arrogant, we’re saying this is what we want.
The match had remained deadlocked through a highly entertaining 14 minutes with Argentina skipper Gaston Revol failing in his attempt to win the match with a drop kick penalty goal in the dying seconds.
“We now focus on tomorrow”.
Coming after their stunning loss to Japan on day one, during which they also lost Sonny Bill Williams and Joe Webber to injury, the defeat left the All Blacks teetering on the brink of an embarrassing exit.
“We moved the ball nicely against Kenya, which was decent”. The same team that beat New Zealand 14-12 in the group stage.
Williams, twice a World Cup victor in the 15-man game, partially ruptured his Achilles charging into a tackle and was replaced in the squad by Sione Molia.
Now, on the eve of the Rugby Sevens tournament that starts on Tuesday at the Deodoro Stadium, Kolbe and the rest of the Blitzbok squad will be eagerly anticipating their opener against Spain at 4.30pm SA time, which is followed by France at 9.30pm.
“We thought if we kept moving the ball around, the big guys would tire somewhere, and they eventually did”.
“They’re a New Zealand side and they play in an All Black uniform”, Hansen said.
You never see a minnow come here and beat a team which is supposed to be a gold-medal contender, he said. “It’s still pretty unbelievable and I am just shocked.to be honest”.
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RIO DE JANEIRO When it was confirmed in 2009 that rugby sevens would be making an Olympics debut in Rio, it would have been reasonable to assume that New Zealand were likely to bring home a couple more gold medals from Brazil.
