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'I'm really gutted... it's a really horrible way to come unstitched'

(Photo by Hannah Peters/World Rugby via Getty Images)

It was a case of ruing what might have been for Japan as their slim half-time lead slipped away to become a decisive 30-17 USA victory at the World Cup. The Japanese battled hard and capitalised on any opportunities but American brawn in the end won the day.

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“I’m really gutted for the girls because they did everything that we asked of them, minus the penalty count,” said coach Lesley McKenzie after Japan have given way to the USA. “It’s a really horrible way to come unstitched because it is on us and so we have the knowledge that we could have handled the game better than we did.

“We wanted to control possession better than we did in the first game and we particularly were able to control territory and I’m so proud of the way they did that. They managed that throughout and we just missed opportunities. Lack of discipline and lapses in judgement were the issues here and I’m really sorry for the team that they had to learn a lesson this way.”

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USA v Japan | Match Highlights | Rugby World Cup 2021

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USA v Japan | Match Highlights | Rugby World Cup 2021

Those missed chances that allowed the USA to capitalise with pace and power will haunt Japan, but they will also be able to look back on a lot they can be proud of as a rugby nation on the rise. Sakura captain Saki Minami sees an opportunity for Japan to utilise their strengths in the future and the opportunities for women’s rugby in Japan.

“I am so proud to see my teammates that are putting their bodies on the line for this team. Even players who are smaller in stature are showing how to use that to their advantage and it’s so exciting to see. I really believe that by pushing harder and making a win we can help to increase the value of women’s rugby in Japan. What is necessary for us to get a win here is to make the most of the chances we make and through that, we can control the game and make sure things go our way.”

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McKenzie also saw definite positives for the future. “It’s a trajectory and a learning curve. The game doesn’t love us and it teaches us some hard lessons and that is part of the World Cup. I’m still quite happy with a lot of things we did – we still need to remind ourselves of the good things we did.”

Despite a difficult fixture next weekend against Italy and the likelihood that the team will go home with no match points to their name, their coach remained buoyant. “The stories aren’t written and the outcomes are not set in stone because we lost two games. We have some positives and we are capable of controlling the game, so it’s up to us.

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“We have put a lot of work into this World Cup. We have a lot of players that could be playing. We are working with senior players, so the girls are operating at a really high capacity considering the domestic infrastructure that we don’t have. I’m really proud of where they are but we can do better and that is the frustration.”

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Bryan 798 days ago

Rugby is so weighted (no pun intended) in favour of the the teams with the bigger players whether it be set scrums rolling mauls umpteen phases near the line etc and unless there are rule changes e.g. secondary shove in a set scrum when the ball is at the number 8's feet and for me a rolling maul has to be obstruction, the open rugby that we all love will be a thing of the past, the size of players nowadays also has to be a contributory factor in the amount of serious injuries especially when high tackles are now the norm. It was a joy to watch Japan find a way to compete with a team that had had a 50k advantage in the scrum and Scotland made a brave attempt against a much bigger undisciplined Aussie team but methinks it could well be England and NZ who will decide the championship.

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JW 1 hour ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.


He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.


The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).


The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.


The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).


It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

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