This was published 9 years ago
Stunning Japan win over South Africa at Rugby World Cup shows how the game should be played
By Peter FitzSimons
There is good rugby, there is great rugby, there is rugby for the ages and then . . . then, my friends, there is the rugby match played in the wee hours of Sunday morning between South Africa and Japan.
Everyone who knew anything about rugby, and everybody else besides . . . knew that Japan who last had a victory in the World Cup back in 1991, who are ranked 13th in world rugby rankings, who had won just a single match in 24 World Cup outings, were no chance against the mighty two-time World Champion South Africans.
Diminutive men, raised 'neath cherry blossoms – which is the Japanese emblem – up against huge thunderers, raised on veldt, who have so much rugby in their blood it seeps out their ears, and down their muscly necks?
What chance the Japanese? Even if they are guided by former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, whose mother is Japanese, and who is one of the world's most highly accomplished rugby supremos.
Upset: Ayumu Goromaru of Japan celebrates scoring his team's second try during the match against South Africa.Credit: Getty Images
No chance. The bookies had them down as a 40 to 1 shot.
And then the match started.
Right from the first the Japanese make their intentions clear. They are not going for best Supporting Actor in this match, the necessary backdrops to make the Boks look good. They're going for Best Actor. They want to be Best Actor, the star of the show! Even when South Africa scores a try to demonstrate their superiority, the Japanese don't back off, and soon get one of their own.
Surely that will be enough for Japanese pride, and they can calm now?
But not a bit of it. The Springboks, boasting a massive 851 Test caps between them, think it must be a lucky punch, that they will soon get back into the game. And they do, sort of, scoring a try of their own, before settling down to scintillating rugby that goes from one end of the field to the other. The Springboks rumble, the Japanese strike. The Springboks rumble, the Japanese strike!
The Japanese attack. They attack from the left. They attack from the right, they attack from deep within their own quarter. Listen, they attack even when they don't have the ball!
That is, their defence against the huge Springboks is so ferocious it rocks them back on their heels.
This friends, is the way rugby is meant to be played! Not with slide-rules and calculators and percentage plays, but with full spirit! Damn-the-torpedoes full speed ahead!
The Springboks go into the break, just two points ahead.But, surely in the second half, the Springbok experience and strength must tell?
Yes, sort of.
With ten minutes to go, the Boks are leading by nine points, and it looks to be all over. But then another Japanese try brings them back within cooee as the crowd – as we say in the trade – goes wild.
It all came down to the last couple of minutes. Even when twice offered the chance of an extraordinary draw, by an easily kickable penalty, the Japanese declined. They didn't want a draw? They wanted a WIN!
And they went for it.
Again and again, they attacked the Springbok line, surging forward, laying it back, surging forward . . . laying it back. 82 minutes on the clock!
With just one knock-on, the game would be over, as the referee would blow the whistle for time.
And look! A break! The Springbok defence is wilting! The Japanese are attacking down the left wing where the South Africans are thinning.
Japanese reserve Karne Hesketh has the ball in hand, and is going to go for it, monstered by two Springboks. He plunges, he lunges . . . reaching out with the ball in hand, and . . . plants it in the corner!
Try! Try! Try, try for your life!
Rugby as it is meant to be played. Rugby, as good as it gets. Congratulations to Japan, and to our own Eddie Jones.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz