Japan exit RWC despite three gripping pool wins

Rugby World Cup organisers declared the pool phase of the tournament to be a “breathtaking shop window for the sport” on Monday and said the key to its success was the increased competitiveness of the Tier Two nations.

While England coach Stuart Lancaster’s failures and future are being hotly debated in local media, attention elsewhere has focused on the games, in which there has been plenty of thrillers, tries, comebacks, and upsets, not the least being Japan’s 34-32 win over South Africa.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Japan to have a new generation of rugby players, fans and heroes”.

The Pool stages are over and 40 games have been completed in the Rugby World Cup with just eight games to go.

“I’ve had the great honour of coaching the Wallabies to a World Cup final, and Japan to three wins from four here”.

Tries by Kotaro Matsushim, Yoshikazu Fujita and Amanaki Mafi embellished by 13 points from the punishing boot of Ayuma Goromaru, brought down the curtain on what has been a memorable tournament for Jones’s courageous Blossoms Japanese.

“The mental courage is about playing the Japanese way”.

“So to win three of four games shows the quality of players we have, and how hard we’ve worked to achieve this”.

“When you do that badly at your own tournament, I think people question why they should bother showing their support”.

Jones, who coached Australia when they lost to England in the 2003 World Cup final, heads to a new job with Cape Town-based Super Rugby franchise the Stormers after Japan concluded their Pool B campaign through a 28-18 victory over the United States. To be allowed to be the best they can be.

World Rugby’s chief executive, Brett Gosper, said no decision had been taken on when to conduct the draw for Japan but also warned “we don’t want to go in the market in phasing terms when we are up against the Olympics in a ticketing sense”. “From high school, into university, and even in the Top League teams, they don’t train to perform at a high level, they train to be disciplined, they train to be obedient, and therefore they don’t learn the game”.

3 The Argentina fans have been lauded for their input at this World Cup, and Leicester was lucky enough to see them first-hand on Sunday.

The 55-year-old Australian has a close affinity with Japan – his mother and his wife are Japanese. Japan, Georgia, Romania, Namibia, Uruguay and Fiji all had their day and will remember England 2015 for years to come. We were always ready for 12 teams going home after the pool phases.

That said, he suggested a few tough love was needed from rugby administrators in Japan.

“As long as you are in the race, you have reasons to believe”, France captain Thierry Dusautoir, a survivor from that win eight years ago, said after Sunday’s 24-9 loss to Ireland consigned his team to a quarterfinal against the defending champion. It’s not going to just happen.

“We’re looking at that now before the knockout stage and the plan is for the change to be made”.