Japan’s rugby head coach Eddie Jones (centre) looks on during his team’s training session in Tokyo. (AFP)

AFP/Tokyo

Japan have long dominated Asian rugby but they will have to ditch their emotional baggage if they are to achieve their ambitious target of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals. The ‘Brave Blossoms’ have made great strides under Australian Eddie Jones, breaking into the world’s top 10 last year following a run of 10 successive wins which culminated in victory over Six Nations side Italy.
But even with Jones set to leave his job after the tournament, the former Wallabies coach insisted Japan’s goal remained a place in the knockout stages in England, where they face South Africa, Samoa, Scotland and the United States in a tough Pool B. “The reality is in the World Cup they’re all tough groups,” Jones told AFP in an interview before the team flew to Europe.
“We’ve probably got to win three games in our pool. Whether we’re good enough, we’re going to find out. But certainly that’s our target, to make the quarter-finals.”
Japan have consistently fallen short on the big stage, their only World Cup win coming against Zimbabwe in 1991. After winning the Pacific Nations Cup for the first time under former All Black John Kirwan, Japan caught stage fright at the 2011 tournament, beaten by hosts New Zealand, France and Tonga before drawing 23-23 with Canada.
“One of the reasons Japan hasn’t done well previously is their mindset,” said Jones, who recently announced he will step down after three years in charge.
“They’ve gone there thinking they’re going to get beaten. But we’re going there to win, even against South Africa. That may seem a long shot but we’ve got to go there thinking we can beat South Africa.”
The Japanese still hold the record of conceding the most points ever in a World Cup match when they were pulverised 145-17 by New Zealand in 1995.
“If you look historically, Japan against the top teams has put their B team on and got beaten by anywhere from 80 to 150 points,” said Jones. “You get that sort of thing happening at a tournament, it’s hard to recover from—B team or not.”
South Africa will hardly be quaking at the prospect of facing Japan, who host the 2019 World Cup. But Jones—who was on the coaching staff of the Springboks side that won the 2007 World Cup—plans to make life uncomfortable for the two-times World Cup winners.
“South Africa is a great team and in World Cup history they’ve got a higher winning percentage than any other team,” said the 55-year-old, who guided Australia to the 2003 final on home soil but lost in the last minute of extra-time to a drop goal by England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson.  
“But they have got weaknesses and if we can play at those weaknesses early in the game and make them think ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ then we put ourselves in with a chance to win the game.”
Realistically, though, Japan will be looking to Scotland, Samoa and the United States as games in which they can do real damage. Pace and possession will be key to their success but Jones will need to fix his side’s indiscipline in defence and at the breakdown.
Captain Michael Leitch, the Kiwi-born back rower, has the job of keeping the team on an even keel, while lightning quick winger Kenki Fukuoka will be one to watch. “You can get there and be the team of the World Cup—a bit like Colombia was at the soccer World Cup,” said Jones, who felt better about life following his team’s 40-0 thrashing of Uruguay in their final home warm-up.
“You can play quality rugby, and maybe you don’t get the wins you deserve, but it makes people sit up and say: ‘Japan’s a serious rugby country now.’ If we can do that then we’ve achieved a lot.”