Cheika’s men could learn a lot from Brave Blossoms master-class
To hear Michael Cheika tell it the Rugby World Cup is a joke. He obviously hasn’t been watching the host nation as they play the game the way it is meant to be played, writes MIKE COLMAN.
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Domo arigato – thank you very much – Japan for showing the Wallabies (and the rest of the world for that matter) how the game of rugby should be played.
If we were to listen to Australian coach Michael Cheika, the current Rugby World Cup is a joke, destroyed by pedantic referees and nonsensical law interpretations.
If, instead, we were to hold up the performances of Japan’s Brave Blossoms throughout the tournament as an example to young kids undecided on what sport to play, their first response would be, “where do I sign up?”
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It has been a long time since Australian rugby fans have seen the game played with such passion, precision and wholehearted commitment.
Which is hardly surprising because we’ve been watching the Wallabies who, apart from a one-off aberration against the All Blacks in Perth, appear to have simply been going through the motions. And not too well at that.
Put the Wallabies’ fumbling, bumbling first half against Wales or slopfest over Georgia up against Japan’s display in downing Scotland on Sunday night and you could be forgiven for thinking they were playing two different sports.
In a way they were.
The Japanese, with an enormous weight of expectation on them as they bid to reach the knockout stage for the first time in the tournament’s history, played with skill, daring and a complete lack of nerves.
Forget that as the host team they were carrying the hopes and prayers of an entire nation on their shoulders; forget that they were a tier two side up against one of the game’s traditional heavyweights, and forget that their countrymen and women were reeling from the aftershocks of a natural disaster.
They just went out and did the job with style, panache and obvious enjoyment.
Video of that first half should be required viewing at every Wallaby training camp.
The way the Japanese halfback passed from the ground instead of picking the ball up, giving his runners extra time and space. The way they ran straight and hard into gaps; their mastery of the basic skill of catch and pass.
The speed of thought and action; the players in motion as they pulled off their set moves flawlessly.
It was all a joy to watch.
And then, perhaps most important of all, was their discipline.
Unlike the Australians, the Japanese haven’t had any complaints about the officials at this tournament for the simple reason that they have paid attention to the way the laws are being policed, and stayed within them.
In their four pool matches Japan conceded a total of 28 penalties and did not have one yellow card or suspension. Australia, with 35 penalties, three yellow cards and a three-game suspension to Reece Hodge, have the worst disciplinary record of all eight quarter-finalists.
Again, unlike the Wallabies, Japan’s tackling technique has been flawless. As Fox commentator Rod Kafer put it during the Scotland match, “they tackle around the belly button”.
It would be easy to say that is because their players are smaller than the top-ranked nations and have no alternative but to tackle low. Easy, but wrong.
It is all about being coached correct technique and having the discipline to stick to that technique under pressure.
And Japan was under plenty of that during the second half as the Scots threw everything at them.
When Eddie Jones took over the Brave Blossoms in 2012 they were a side conditioned to accept the concept of honourable defeat. Jones knocked that out of them, as their groundbreaking win over the Springboks in the 2015 Rugby World Cup showed.
Current coach Jamie Joseph and his assistant Tony Brown have built on that platform.
This is now a team that expects to win and executes the game plan to the letter in order to achieve that goal.
Let’s hope Wallabies’ Director of Rugby Scott Johnson – and whoever takes over from Cheika at the end of this tournament – are taking notes.
Originally published as Cheika’s men could learn a lot from Brave Blossoms master-class