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https://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/...83efdc800dc746SCOTLAND has reportedly informed World Rugby at a series of angry meetings of its intention to take legal action to ensure the game against Japan is played. The Scots are calling for the game to be pushed back 24 hours to assure its safe.
Just thinking the way red cards are being handed out the final could end up with one team not being able to field a full squad!
To all youngsters now starting to play rugby, if someone is about to tackle you dive head first into their arm and they will be sin binned! You could also go and play football (soccer).
May the FORCE be with you!
On a different note, a mate and I are having a shot of Irish Whiskey each for every Irish try.
I was just thinking tomorrow's Japan v Scotland match would be worse if I repeated it. Sake v Scotch Whisky.
"12 Years a Supporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue
Well said Mr Taylor
Nick Taylor: Is this the Wallabies team we have to have? Axing the Western Force was supposed to make Australia ‘great again’
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Saturday, 12 October 2019 11:36AM
So this is the Wallabies team we had to have?
A side that struggled to an unconvincing, error-ridden 27-8 World Cup win over second-tier Georgia.
When Rugby Australia controversially axed Western Force and saved the under-performing, dollar guzzling Melbourne Rebels the powers-that-be said it would make the Wallabies great again.
They said.
Fewer teams meant more competition and would produce better players: ergo shrink to greatness for a glorious future for the Wallabies.
They said.
Well things don't seem to be going quite to plan and on this performance those powers-that-be must be giving the worry beads a good workover as the Wallabies prepare for the quarter-final clash with England.
It was a scoreline that flattered.
More here
https://thewest.com.au/sport/wallabi...ng-b881350662z
Just watching the wrap up of the FANTASTIC Japan Scotland game, 2 out of 3 fox muppets pick Australia for the win, I suspect they're warming up the excuse machine early this week. On the other hand if you haven't watched the Japan Scotland game, do yourself a favour, it'll restore your faith in the game.
C'mon the
Can someone copy Nick Taylor’s article as it’s paywalled.
Japan game was fantastic what a game and some celebrations.
May the FORCE be with you!
A lot to like about the way Japan's playing rugby at RWC 2019.
It's good to have a team to support in the final 8.
Rather than a team with individual players whom we know well :-)
Last edited by andrewg; 14-10-19 at 21:28.
Looking forward to Chieka's last game ..?!
"The whole point of rugby is that it is, first and foremost, a state of mind, a spirit." - Jean-Pierre Rives
We got a glimpse of their speed and skill with the Wild Knights. Great coaching by all the blokes involved, from Eddie Jones onward who have introduced high pace, high skill game plans that suit Japanese players and counter what they lack in size and strength. Can they get ZA again? They are not going to surprise anyone now but you'd like to think so.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Japan...,By far the best handling in RWC 19 . This was rugby union in its purest form both in the tight and loose....,fantastic to watch.... Geez I hope they get to the semis . Well done to SANZAAR .... great decision again ..... Only 60 million odd watching. Mmmmmm .... definitely not worth having Japan involved .
The stunning ploy to use an 'undercover' rugby team to prepare Japan for the World Cup
The stunning ploy to use an 'undercover' rugby team to prepare Japan for the World Cup
Japan's ploy to use an undercover international team worked to prepare them for the World Cup. (Photos/Gettys Images)
Ben Smith Ben Smith
14 October, 12:30pm
Japan is just one win away from a ‘Triple Crown’ after beating Scotland to top Pool A and qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time ever.
Although they probably won’t play another Home Nations team in this World Cup, beating two of them has been no mean feat. It has been a remarkable World Cup for Jamie Joseph’s side so far.
When you look deeper below the surface at how they pulled this off, it becomes even more astounding. Joseph and his staff took a massive gamble over 2019, undertaking a high-risk ploy that defied conventional wisdom.
Continue reading below…
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The team that beat Ireland and Scotland has largely been playing amateurs and up-and-coming stars of the future, as part of an undercover international team operating in the shadows.
A Sunwolves ‘B’ team, called the Wolfpack or Japan A, formed the backbone of Japan’s preparations which held back stars from Super Rugby in order to play together against lesser competition.
The Wolfpack’s opposition this year were: Hurricanes B (twice), Highlanders B, Western Force and Melbourne Rising (the Rebels’ second team comprised of many Victorian club rugby players).
Stars of this World Cup, like prolific try-scorer Kotaro Matsushima were trotted out against guys graduating from under-20’s, provincial-level stalwarts and even local club rugby battlers.
Instead of testing themselves against former Wallaby pair Will Genia and Quade Cooper of the Rebels, flyhalf Yu Tamura and halfback Yutaka Nagare played the curtain-raiser against Harrison Goddard and Dan England.
Hooker Shota Horie, Australian-born lock James Moore, speedster Kenki Fukuoka, fan favourite Kazuki Himeno and serial offloader Will Tupou were all Wolfpack regulars this year, which kicked off their shadow season around April mid-way through Super Rugby.
It is hardly the type of rugby that would be ideal to take down two tier one nations. It was an extremely bold call to gut the Sunwolves of most of the top tier Japanese talent and ignore Super Rugby for their World Cup preparation.
Even coaches were moved towards the Wolfpack as a priority, with super-mind Tony Brown spending significant time with them after handing the reins of the Sunwolves to assistant Scott Hansen.
Steve Hansen’s All Black mini-camps that upset Super Rugby teams looks like child’s play compared to this operation. The Wolfpack’s ‘shadow’ season was used to prepare Japan for the Pacific Nations Cup which then led into this tournament.
This ploy in hindsight looks like a masterstroke but is still a head-scratcher.
How is playing a lower level of competition better for a team trying to take on internationals, including the recently-ranked number one side? Is it possible that the JRFU were right in claiming that ‘Super Rugby no longer remains the best pathway for the development of players for the national side’?
Japan’s stellar results have proved so, at least this year. The answer could lie in not the quality of opposition but the timing, which has always been a gripe for the Sunwolves and Super Rugby, which rolls straight off the back of the Top League season.
“We have to ensure (the national players) can play at the right time of the year,” Jamie Joseph explained to the Japan Times when asked why certain players were being held back from the tougher Super Rugby competition.
A lighter schedule has probably protected the Japan side from incurring injuries that would have been part and parcel of a physical Super Rugby season, whilst managing the load over the middle part of the year to build and peak at the Rugby World Cup. That still doesn’t explain the ‘doing’ part of the equation as everyone wants to ‘build and peak’ in November.
If Japan does claim another tier one scalp, the implications could be far-reaching with how those teams treat their domestic club competitions in a World Cup year. It may already have.
It is rather fitting that their quarterfinal opponent is South Africa, a country that vehemently opposed their inclusion in SANZAAR’s club competition and ultimately pushed for their axing. A competition that Japan then snubbed to prove they could improve in their own right, which they have.
It won’t be lost that a win over South Africa in a knockout game would be the ultimate poetic justice given the bad blood between the two nations. However, Japan’s performance should be a shock to both Hemispheres given how they have done it, regardless of whether they beat the Springboks or not.
From Rugby Pass
Who will win the race to involve japan in international and club comps
Does GRR have chance anywhere or does FUARU have the controlling hand?