Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'That would be the ultimate': Jamie Joseph reveals long-term hopes and short-term obstacles for Japan

Jamie Joseph congratulates his Japan players after victory over Scotland (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

It’s been almost 18 months since Japan last played a test match – a quarter-final defeat at the hands of the Springboks in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

After the roaring success of the flagship competition in Japan, 2020 was set to be a bumper year for the Brave Blossoms, with fixtures scheduled against the likes of England, France, New Zealand the Barbarians. That never eventuated, however, due to the advent of COVID, and Japan had to settle for seriously contracted Top League competition as their only source of rugby entertainment for the year.

2021 has already gotten off to a much better start, with the Top League now in its knockout stages and the Brave Blossoms set to kick their international campaign off with an historical match against the British and Irish Lions in Scotland.

Video Spacer

All Blacks Dane Coles, Sevu Reece, Shannon Frizell, and Scott Barrett share their favourite drills, what other position they want to play and what their number one tip is for young rugby players. Brought to you by Healthspan Elite.

Video Spacer

All Blacks Dane Coles, Sevu Reece, Shannon Frizell, and Scott Barrett share their favourite drills, what other position they want to play and what their number one tip is for young rugby players. Brought to you by Healthspan Elite.

While Scotland coach Gregor Townsend hinted following the Six Nations that his side could also face off against Japan – although Townsend wouldn’t be involved with the team at that stage due to his Lions commitments – Japan coach Jamie Joseph has suggested that they’re preparing just for the solitary Lions test at this stage.

“We don’t have a lot of time to prepare for our match,” he said in a mid-week press conference. “We haven’t played since the last World Cup. Scotland have played quite a few matches since then, and we’ve got a wee ways to go.

“It [the Lions game] gives us a crucial starting point for our World Cup preparations. It’s a one-off, unique opportunity for us. There’s certainly no way that I would put added pressure on the group or the organisation by trying to get warm-up games.”

Joseph also said that an internal match was being planned ahead of travelling to Scotland, likely between players eligible for the final Brave Blossoms squad.

ADVERTISEMENT

While Japan may not have played any games since 2019, the higher standard of play in this year’s Top League competition – undoubtedly boosted thanks to the presence of Beauden Barrett, Michael Hooper and Brodie Retallick, among others – ensures that Joseph’s charges won’t enter the Lions’ den without any rugby under their belts whatsoever.

“We haven’t played a test match since the World Cup [but] that doesn’t restrict the keenness or the motivation that the players have got,” he said.

“[It’s] not ideal preparation. The Top League, however, in my view has really improved. There’s a high quality of coaching now in Japan, and a lot of international players now ply their trade in Japan, which is really good for the game as well.”

Joseph also suggested that Japan’s continual advancement on the world stage will be significantly affected by the international calendar and whether World Rugby can finally create a window that works for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I think what we need to do internationally, is that we need to sort out the window that suits international rugby,” he said.

“The biggest challenge for me as the international coach for Japan, is getting a season where our players can play domestic rugby that will support our companies, the Top League, our stakeholders and our sponsors, and then give the players an opportunity to have a breather away from the game, and have a preseason and then get into some test matches, and we’re not quite there yet in that respect.”

Long-term, Joseph hopes that Japan can find a permanent spot in one of rugby’s premier annual international competitions – such as The Rugby Championship.

“That would be the ultimate,” Joseph said. “But before we reach the ultimate it’s a wee bit like the World Cup: a lot of things have to got to start happening.

“For us, we’re a rugby team that hasn’t played for 18 months, so the first thing that needs to happen for us really is to get back and play rugby.

“For me to make comments around what would be great … in about three years’ time just would be remiss.”

Japan’s inclusion in The Rugby Championship would be just rewards for their continued and significant improvement over the past decade but would perhaps leave some in the Pacific Islands feeling aggrieved that the likes of Fiji and Samoa have been left out in the cold.

Fiji are set to play a match against the All Blacks in July while Samoa have lined up an end of year match against the Barbarians.

Japan’s battle with the Lions is set to take place at Murrayfield on 26 June.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 5 hours ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!


It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.


It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.


Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.


Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!

5 Go to comments
J
JW 9 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

In another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.


First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.


They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.


Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.


Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.


That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup

207 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu suffers new injury setback Springboks flyhalf's latest injury worry
Search