Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Lomu consoles Japan

Fri Sep 21 12:37PM

After the game on Tuesday I was looking forward to watching a good match last night.  For me there was personal interest in this one.  Firstly there were a number of guys in the Welsh side that I played with during my time with the Cardiff Blues.  I played for the Blues in the 05/06 season and I was really happy to see so many of them in the squad and in the starting line-up last night.  Secondly my good friend John Kirwan coaches the Japanese side and I had the opportunity to get to know them all better back in May of this year.  I travelled to Japan with the Classic All Blacks and we played two games against the Japanese in their preparation to the World Cup.  The Classic All Blacks included the likes of Carlos Spencer, Justin Marshall and Eric Rush just to name a few.  What impressed us all during those two matches was their professional attitude and their determination, never giving up.

The game started with good intensity but it was a little scrappy with the Welsh losing the ball forward following a great tackle by Japan which allowed Japan to threaten the Welsh side resulting in a penalty.  Japan were the first to put points on the board and I'm sure that gave them a confidence boost. This looked to be a good game although I had a feeling the Welsh would get away at some stage. The Japanese were capitalising on the Welsh errors and putting points on the board.

There were pockets in the game when the Japanese played really well and put a lot of pressure on the Welsh which resulted in more points.  But handling errors in attack and turnovers let them down, providing gaps in the Japanese defence allowing the Welsh to put more points on the board.  The highlight of the first half was definitely the try Japan scored from within their 22 where they showed good skill and confidence to take it to the Welsh, the try being scored by Kosuke Endo.  It was possibly the best try of the tournament!

The second-half started with the Welsh wanting to firmly stamp their dominance on the game and they looked sure for a runaway try in the first minute only to be stopped by a try-saving tackle from behind by Japan only for them to get over the line when Mike Phillips came off the back of the scrum.  The Welsh got away a bit on the Japanese finding gaps in their defence and capitalising on the opportunities to put more points on the ball and the score mounting towards the 50 mark.  Another outstanding try by the Japanese from their own line again by number 11 was beautiful to watch.  Unfortunately continued turnovers by Japan let them down and allowed a flurry of relatively easy tries for the Welsh. 

Even with the points tally the Japanese would not give up, contesting possession and challenging the Welsh until the end of the game.  I know JK (John Kirwan) will be disappointed but there were some good positive things that came out of the game.  They have certainly become a more physical side demonstrating some great defense and big tackles during the game. They are a side showing improvements in many aspects of their game and although the scoreline got away from them there are many things they can be proud of.  What I liked about them was they never gave up and of course they scored a couple of great tries.

The Welsh themselves will admit I'm sure that they should not have made so many handling errors and had they kept that in check it would have been a much bigger score.  That said they did run in 11 tries by nine players and they demonstrated the depth of talent in their backline.  A player worth mentioning for me was Martyn Williams who put in the hard graft for 80 minutes and who was instrumental in setting up two of their tries.

My personal day yesterday?..

Yesterday I traveled to Geneva for a speaking engagement, speaking to a group of 200 marketers from Proctor and Gamble.  Speaking is something I've done for a few years now, I don't do many engagements (I prefer to be on the field) but when I do them I enjoy them and like today I get to meet some great people.  I mostly speak about my experiences in life and about getting over adversity and challenge, my illness and my return to the rugby field after being told I would never do it.

It also gave me the opportunity to have a quick look around Geneva and in particular to take in the view of Lake with the mountains in behind it, some already with a lot of snow on them, it really is a beautiful city.  When I got back into Paris last night I went to see the Samoan team, Lome Faatau (he plays 14) and I played in Wellington together for the Wellington provincial side and the Hurricanes.  It was great to catch up with him and a few of the boys and we ended up having dinner at Why Not in Paris.  That's a great place, it was a late night and we were joined by a few of the locals, all in all another great night in Paris! (The photo is of Lome and me at "Why Not" last night).

LIKES ? The Japanese scoring two tries from their own line ? outstanding, the first try from within their own 22 has to be the try of the tournament so far!

GAME OF THE WEEK ? so far it would have to be the match last night, the Japanese although hit by a big score line were tenacious until the end with a never give up attitude.

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