Eddie Jones, coach of the fearless Blossoms, in his usual understated and ironic way, summed it up perfectly: “Yeah, apparently rugby’s on the news now, which is unusual in Japan, because it’s usually sumo and baseball”.
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He said: “Next it’s the most important game in the World Cup, against Scotland“.
“From our point of view, we’ve been watching Japan for a long time and we always knew they were an exceptional team”, Taylor told reporters on 22 September.
The Japan jersey has since climbed up to become the chain’s third-best selling jersey out of all 20 World Cup sides, behind the number one selling All Blacks shirt and Ireland. On the other side, Scotland have named 12 RWC debutants to face the fiesty Japanese.
Japan has started its Rugby World Cup campaign in stunning fashion, ending the team’s 24-year drought at the tournament.
But Ford insists it’s time for Scotland to make their own mark after days of flying under the radar as they set about booking a quarter-final spot. “We’ve discussed their players and tactics but not about Eddie at all”.
The Wallabies play Fiji at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (1545 GMT) in the second game involving rivals from Pool A, the toughest in the tournament which also features England and Wales.
“But when we went into Gloucester for our arrival ceremony everybody seemed to be behind us”.
“We knew as a squad we couldn’t underestimate them and that proved to be the case”.
Yesterday, ahead of their team run, there were crash barriers in place for the arrival of the Japan team bus to hold back all the camera crews. I mean we’re just looking forward to the opportunity.
“The priority for us is to ensure that we get our jobs right with accuracy, and impose ourselves on the game”, added the 53-year-old New Zealander, who has been in charge since May 2014.
“This win will convince the world that the Japan Rugby Union is ready to host the next World Cup and that we are capable of doing that”, said Tokumasu, general manager of the 2019 World Cup organising committee. “And we know the English don’t like the Scot-tish so that’s another bonus for us!”
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Captain Michael Leitch, who twice turned down chances to kick for goal at 32-29 against South Africa in favour of chasing the win, says his side will not be distracted by the acclaim that has come with pulling off one of the sport’s greatest shocks. “If we’re good enough we’ll win; if we’re not we won’t”. They (Japan) deserve a lot of credit for the way in which they played and how they put us under pressure.
