Japan chop Samoa 26-5

Japan have a chance of making the quarter-finals for the first time.

Bennett insists being rested against the Springboks wasn’t through choice but he’s raring to go for the massive challenge in four days.

Because, while the big-boned have always been with us, most rugby players have roughly the same size of skeletons as their predecessors from a few decades back. It was a case of, “This is the team”, that’s that. “You can’t play footie with 13 on the pitch”, he lamented. Before we go on to look at England and South Africa, credit needs to be given to Japan and Wales both exemplified the overwhelming power of passion and belief in beating two of the pre-tournament favorites.

Scotland will attest to Borthwick’s work, too, having been shoved back over their own line by the Japanese at Kingsholm last Wednesday, offering further proof that the world order may be changing as the so-called little guys fight back. So this game is critical for us.

In the other hand, the smallest number of people that watched the game of Rugby World Cup was 10,103 fans for Tonga against Namibia in Exeter.

“In 2003 they played at Gosford north of Sydney”. However, they can still exhibit virtues that may impress the purist; the underdog team will often have to defend for a large part of the game, which requires great physical strength, bravery, organization, and trust in one’s team-mates. Goromaru, meanwhile, showed why he is the leading scorer in this tournament, slotting over the penalties to put the game out of sight. “I think that they’re going to come for us, because they still need to try and finish third to get automatic qualification”, Bennett said.

Before the match, the late SA President Nelson Mandela was inducted posthumously into the World Rugby Hall of Fame at a ceremony where World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset presented the Hall of Fame cap to former Bok captain Francois Pienaar and South Africa’s deputy sport and recreation minister, Gert Oosthuizen.

His place is taken by Duncan Weir, while Stuart Hogg is the only native Scot player to start all three games. “We’ve been looking at them before we came to this tournament”, he said.

Even with another five tries in the second half we’ll still get humped, as we Scots say.

Jones said: “We are playing one of the biggest teams and in every position we are giving height and weight away”.

“Each time we’ve had to overcome that and they’ve done really well”.

There will not be as many Samoans as there were South Africans at St James’ Park, but Bennett is sure there will still be an excellent atmosphere at the Newcastle ground.