rugby union

Japan beats Samoa 26-5 to keep Rugby World Cup quarterfinal hopes alive

22 Comments
By JEROME PUGMIRE

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22 Comments
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Congratulations! Well done, boys!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Well done, the blossoms strike again!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan looked so good last night. They looked a different team to the one that played Scotland. Still going to be difficult to make it to the quarters but Japan can beat the US. Hope they can do it with a bonus point too. Just need Samoa to regroup and beat Scotland... although that seems quite unlikely. Either way... Japan should be very proud of what has been achieved thus far. Awesome stuff.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Eddie Jones moving to SA is going to make the JRU look pretty pathetic. How can they let him go?

Japan looked so good last night. They looked a different team to the one that played Scotland.

I wouldn't go that far. They still played well against Scotland in the first half. I agree 100% with everything else you said though.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I wouldn't go that far. They still played well against Scotland in the first half. I agree 100% with everything else you said though.

Ah true... but I missed the first half... only saw them lose control in the second.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I don't follow rugby, or even understand what's going on. But on NHK several players were interviewed, and it seem that most of "Team Japan" are not actually Japanese, including the coach. What's up with that? Anyway, this should be a great model for how foreigners can be integrated into Japanese society and everyone wins. I hope Abe was watching.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Good on Japan! Well done!!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Well Done Japan!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Great game by Japan, they stopped passing too much which lead to lots of knock ons & forwards passes when they played Scotland in their game against Samoa!

And the pack clearly frustrated the Samoans & they repeatedly lost their cool & Japan put the ball between the pipes to wear the Samoans down.

its too bad they didn't get a couple more tries as they were very close a number of times.

All in all a very good result & Japan can be proud of their achievement so far, lets hope they prevail over the Yanks & make it to the next round!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well done again Japan! Now on to the USA game. Regardless of that result I'd say this has been an excellent tornie for Japan already.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yep, Japan played well. Probably a lot of plastic fans were expecting another big loss and didn't tune in. As a wallabies supporter I'm not relishing the possibility of Australia coming up against our former coach in the next round. Well we will see. If I was in the Japan rugby board of directors I'd be offering Jones a hefty paycheck to get him to stay

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@gokai

it seem that most of "Team Japan" are not actually Japanese, including the coach. What's up with that?

Under the rules of rugby, players living overseas can qualify to represent their country of long-term residence without being citizens. Many teams have a smattering of overseas players. As for the coach, it's so commonplace to have foreign coaches that it's barely worthy of comment! (Although in the case of Eddie Jones, Japan's Australian coach, he is actually half-Japanese)

Looking at Japan's team yesterday, it was composed of 10 Japanese, 3 Polynesians, and 2 Caucasians - at least 2 of those 'foreigners' are Japanese citizens though (I'm unsure about the others)

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Yoshitsune Thanks for the information and that is very interesting. On NHK news this afternoon, one of the "foreign" players was interviewed and spoke very good Japanese. This is a great model for Japanese and foreigners working to gether in Japan to make a win-win game. Japan would be better because of it. So as I said, I hope Abe is paying attention.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

We may hope

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@gokai the captain of the Japan team has been living in Japan since he was 15, and has said that he feels he speaks Japanese better than his speaks English now.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I was surprised to see all the non-japanese players constituting the Japanese national team. Actually it was very amusing. Yeah, I get all that stuff about "the rules allow... etc" but, say what you like, the team is hardly a reflection of japan or Japanese rugby.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan looked so good last night. They looked a different team to the one that played Scotland

Getting a week off between matches makes a huge difference, not to mention that the Scotland match was the first match for them vs a 4 day rest for the Japanese team.

The schedulers for these matches need their heads examined!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@gokai

Yeah, the captain of the team is the guy you've probably mostly seen being interviewed, he's an Aussie-born Fijian who moved to Japan a long time ago (15 years apparently, thank to Tel Porter above!) and is a naturalised citizen

@ohara

the team is hardly a reflection of japan or Japanese rugby

Clearly not an accurate reflection of Japanese society as a whole, no; but a fair reflection of Japanese rugby. The reason these guys are living in Japan is that they came to play for Japanese teams and remained long enough to qualify for the national team. Likewise there are 3 Polynesians in the England team, which isn't an accurate reflection of the number of Polynesians in England, but is a fair reflection of the number playing rugby in England.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Thanks for information above about the team members. It is a model for internationalization. We are all on the same Team Japan, and we can win!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Getting a week off between matches makes a huge difference, not to mention that the Scotland match was the first match for them vs a 4 day rest for the Japanese team.

That was part of the reason. The other was that Scotland played well.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The other was that Scotland played well.

No doubt, but I would think that the playing field should be level for all teams in the WC. I haven't checked but I wonder how many other so-called "2nd Tier" teams participating in the WC had to play matches against higher ranked teams with such short rest.

The chances increase greatly that the higher ranked teams will play through to the quarterfinals and beyond.

Yes it all comes down to how they played, but in the Scotland match it was obvious in the second half that the Japanese were tired. I would love to see them both play again fully rested.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I saw a rugby match on my surfing Samoatrip last year. Being from America where rugby is not a largely popular sport, I'd never seen a real rugby match before and was surprised at how much fun it was.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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