Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Jonah praises minnows

Wed Sep 19 10:52AM

I want to talk a bit today about two of the teams that are considered to be the minnows of the tournament. It disheartens me that these teams appear not to be shown the respect for making it to this World Cup. They have to qualify to be here and are eligible to play just like any other team.

You will get the odd game where 80-100 points are put on them but that is to be expected when they don't have regular fixtures with top class teams, for example the 6 Nations teams or the Tri-Nations. As well as the expected large scores against some teams there have also been huge surprises in this World Cup and none bigger for me than Georgia.

Georgia are considered as one of the less experienced sides in the competition and not widely considered as one that could threaten the more experienced sides. They have impressed me from the start, beginning in Lyon against Argentina. Watching that game and seeing how competitive they were from the start of the match to the end, you could see the team growing in confidence.

The game in Lyon showed how rugby could be played. Each country has a unique style, it's whether or not each team can find its own style that suits its players and their skill sets. It is obvious in this World Cup that Georgia have found a style that suits them. They have a big forward pack that thrives on presence and physical domination, and they have a back line that is competitive with some individual game breakers.

The experience that they gained from that game held them in great steed for a titanic encounter with Ireland. For me that was the game of the tournament so far. Coming off their strong game against Argentina, their passion, their love of the game and the pride for playing for their country took them to another level, in a game that most thought would be an easy win for Ireland. They demonstrated the ability to be competitive for 80 minutes. They put immense pressure on the Irish and were unlucky to not come away with the win.

I'm looking forward to watching them play against Namibia match next week and congratulate them again for their effort in this competition and for providing us some great rugby to watch. And to the Georgian captain, Ilia Zedginidze, who is out of the rest of the World Cup with a fractured knee cap, I commend you on the way you have led your team and am sorry that this injury has led to your early withdrawal. I wish you well.

The next team I want to talk about is Japan, First game out of the blocks was Australia where they were thrashed 91-3. It showed great character of the team to come back for the next match against Fiji. That's when it comes down to mental preparation rather than physical preparation. It's when you have to call on your pride.  It was definitely one of the most exciting games of the tournament that see-sawed back and forth right through into the 84th minute of the game. It even got me to the point of standing on the bed screaming at the television screen.

John Kirwan has done a great job with the Japanese players since he has been involved - you can see the confidence and belief they have in themselves in the way they play. They've still got a way to go but I'm certain they will continue to develop especially with their involvement in the pacific five nations which gives them great experience.

Before the game last night we went for an early dinner at the Buddha bar in Paris. It was a great night which started with the chef coming out to meet me and to welcome me to the restaurant while I signed autographs for all the waiting staff. The chef sent out a specially prepared sushi and sashimi platter (my favourite) at the beginning of the meal but I still polished two further plates of Sashimi before my main.

When we'd finished the chef asked us into the kitchen to take a picture with him and another one of his chefs, I've attached a picture of the three of us. It's somewhere I'll definitely be going back to before we leave!

Onto to the game last night between Scotland and Romania. To be honest it's a difficult one for me to comment on as it was one-way traffic for most of the match. The first half saw Scotland take all the points going 21-nil ahead with some of the tries coming from mistakes by the Romania which the Scots capitalized on.

In the second half the Romanians lost the limited possession they had. With the tackle count being so high for Romania it takes a toll on a team. The missed tackle count on both sides meant the game was scrappy and lacked continuity. The Scots out- classed the Romanian's who struggled to get into the game.

In their defence, they did hold the Scots for 20 minutes in the second half between tries but being starved of possession it's difficult to achieve anything. The best moment of the game was probably the intercept by Tofan which was called back by the ref. Although the Scots ran in 6 tries it wasn't a match that could be described as gripping but I'm sure they were happy to keep Romania scoreless.

LIKES: The Buddha bar - they took good care of us and the food was great. The Sashimi platters were fantastic!

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