Rugby World Cup: How Japan became a force to be reckoned with

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From Oliver Trenchard
Japanese Imperial author
This is not a wonder.
As the Brave Blossoms booked a place with victory against Scotland at the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time Read Japanese papers.
The people and media are waking up to the fact their rugby team.
However, this didnt happen overnight.
The catastrophic acceleration and agility of Kenki Fukuoka and celebrity wingers Kotaro Matsushima, coupled together with all the epic leadership of back-rower Michael Leitch and captain, deserve all plaudits that come their way, but there is more to this Brave Blossoms than their own poster boys.
Japan possess capability from 1 to 15 – and on the replacements bench.
They have forward with managing skills to equal that of resistance backs, effective at some outrageous offloads as demonstrated by hooker Shota Horie against Scotland.
The Brave Blossoms understand their strengths are keen to increase time, moving the ball away from the region of contact and lie with their fitness.
The hosts confront winners South Africa from the previous eight. BBC Sport looks at the factors behind the increase of Japan.
Launching the Sunwolves to Super Rugby a few months has brought advantages.
The players are examining themselves against southern hemisphere opposition, a luxury they wouldnt have with League soccer that is domestic only.
Though the Sunwolves will participate in Super Rugby out of 2021, theyve played a part in Japans World Cup preparations.
An alignment involving the group and also the Sunwolves over the past two seasons has seen head coach Jamie Joseph and assistant Tony Brown taking the reins of both teams, leading to the Super Rugby side becoming an expansion of their Brave Blossoms.
Much of handling Japan have generated in the World Cup and the flair was honed in Super Rugby.
Joseph and Brown had the luxury last season of picking which players showcased for the Sunwolves, pulling the vast majority of Japans World Cup squad to get a series of intensive coaching camps and enabling that the Brave Blossoms to perfect those set-piece routines and backs moves, also arguably make them the most fittest team in the championship.
Its not simply the Sunwolves where rugby has gained from coaches.
The Super Rugby coach by number of titles, robbie Deans, was at the helm of Panasonic Wild Knights at the League because 2014 and key into the development of wing Fukuoka and front-row forward Horie and Keita Inagaki.
Meanwhile, Kazuki Himeno, among the players of the championship so far, has 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White to thank for his progression.
White was appointed head coach Toyota Verblitz at 2017, whom Himeno united in April that year straight out of college.
Just 1 month later, he was appointed captain by White, saying it was alarge chance for him to develop.
The back-row forward struggled to cope with the captaincy initially but started reading books on leadership, staying at night in pubs and building a group.
He had been rewarded with his Brave Blossoms call-up, less than two months after making his debut.
He has continued at the beating establishing him on his meteoric trajectory with his work.
While Joseph and Brown will get the headlines for Japans majestic attacking play, it has become the scrum where the Brave Blossoms have improved most beneath their tenure.
Shin Hasegawa is the man in charge of this scrum that is Japanese. Cutting on a menacing figure in a suit and tie on the end of the bench on Sunday of Japan, the prior squirt is not the type of person youd want to bump into at night down a secluded Tokyo street.
Having played at the 1999 World Cup Joseph for Japan, Hasegawa realised that opponents easily overpowered the Japan scrum.
After overhauling Top League group Yamaha Jubilo and turning them into a title contest with the very best scrum at the group, Joseph in 2016 called upon Hasegawa to help the Brave Blossoms scrummaging.
Conscious that Japanese players will normally be of greater stature than their opponents, Hasegawa has compared his scrummaging approach with Japan to your punch, at whichpunching faster will cause more impact thanhitting tougher.
His breakthrough came from just two Tests against Ireland at June 2017.
Japan were overpowered at the scrum at the first Test. However, a minor shift in the angle of this hooker saw the subsequent week the Brave Blossoms compete. It was the Japan forwards realised his capacity.
South Africa fans with memories of 2015 is going to be eager to remind Japan that lightning does not strike twice.
The Brave Blossoms have beaten on Scotland and Ireland in Pool A and will enhance their odds of maintaining another scalp.
The Brighton miracles rematch comes with all the Springboks cantering to a victory on that occasion, just 44 days following the teams met at a game.
This was far in the case while the margin of success that day in Kumagaya would signal a same-sex event.
Japan won as many rucks, outstripping the opposition in every statistic from blank breaks and appreciated twice as much territory.
The area was together with all the people, on the scoreboard.
With the thats come with topping Pool A, Japan is going to be eager to make amends for your defeat.
Their line speed was perfected over the duration of their four victories, with the handling skills of centers Ryota Nakamura and Timothy Lafaele paramount to Matsushima and Fukuoka being granted attacking chances.
Never has received this level of exposure. Whilst television recordings are obliterated for Brave Blossoms games the nations robustly healthy newspaper industry has plastered the red and white of Japan all on its pages.
Sundays win against Scotland watched 53.7percent of the nation tune in, which makes it the most watched television programme of this calendar year domestically.
Viewership has raised game-on-game for Japan matches together with the audience currently more than twice that of the match of Sunday, throughout the pool period.
Rugby has captured the hearts of the country.
The word legacy is tarnished with a sense of platitude when uttered around sporting occasions. This is uncharted territory for football, whose job it will be to make sure that the sport is not being followed by these fans every four years.
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