Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Japanese giants should be proud

Wed Sep 26 11:51AM

My return trip back from Edinburgh was a lengthy one involving overbooked and late-running flights, which meant I was lucky to make it back to Paris at all. I was pleased to be back with another win for the All Blacks against Scotland on Sunday.

Yesterday I spent most of the day with Yahoo!. I took some time in the morning to teach the staff at the Yahoo! France offices the Haka and to explain its meaning the All Blacks and to New Zealand. It was a great morning and they were very enthusiastic to learn and understand what it was all about.

I had photos with each of them and signed autographs and balls before leaving for the Yahoo! event called People and Passion at the Mini Palais. It was a fantastic venue in a great part of Paris and I undertook a question and answer session with Christophe Parcot the head of Yahoo! France before signing more autographs and photos with the 200+ people attending. The picture on the page is of me and some of the Yahoo! France team.

The first game today was between Canada and Japan. In terms of the rugby experience these two teams they were evenly matched so I was expecting a tight game. With neither side having won a game in the tournament so far there was a lot to play for. It was no surprise that it was 5-0 to Japan at half time and that it took until the 49th minute for Canada to score.

Although Japan and Canada are evenly matched they have contrasting styles, the Japanese with their mobility and speed to counteract the power play of the Canadians. The Japanese again demonstrated the development of the physical side of their game with some big hitting tackles in the first half. The try scored by Kosuke Endo showed great strength breaking through a tackle and a fantastic left foot step and stepping out of the tackle of the last defender and out pacing the cover defence. A great piece of individual brilliance.

Compare this with the Canadian try which wasn't pretty but a simple and perfectly executed rolling maul with the hooker breaking off and crossing the line. A well-structured piece of play by the Canadian forwards. Although the Canadians had the majority of possession they were unable to utilize this and put vital points on the board.

They secured a second try which they converted and the score remained locked at 12 to 5 until extra time where the Japanese unrelenting pressure and determination saw them through for a final try by Koji Taira to be converted by Onishi to draw the game level. A deserving outcome for the Japanese who fought for 83 minutes to pull off this draw.

The Japanese can take a lot of pride away from this game, with very little possession they were able to compete, showed massive defence and threw absolutely everything at it. They should be very proud of their efforts at this World Cup and in the development of their game.

The second game of the day, Portugal-Romania was destined to be a close match. The two minnows of the tournament showed composure on defence and the game showed how evenly matched they were with score only 7-0 at half time to Portugal. The Portuguese would have gone into the second half with a bit of confidence. The Romanians though had other ideas and showed great patience waiting more than an hour to get points on the board. The Romanians camped on the Portuguese line with 10 minutes to go and after intense pressure the Florin Corodeanu went over with the fly half converting the try, the final score at 14 to 10.

There are some big games coming up this week as we head towards the business end of the tournament. There are quite a few teams who are fighting to stay in the competition. For Ireland the game against Argentina is crucial and we will need to see a huge improvement from them when they come up against the Argentinian side. They need to find the magic that enabled them to become the Triple Crown Champions to be able to stay in this competition. Another game where the heat is on is England Tonga on Friday.

The English team found some form in their last match but it took a long time into the game for this to happen. The Tongan side will be full of confidence, pride and determination to make it through to the quarter finals for the first time at a World Cup. They showed how competitive they can be against South Africa where the result came down to the wire. Along with watching the All Blacks I'm looking forward to this weekend which will be full of great games. I hope some of you manage to get out and see some of the action live.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEKEND: My trip to Edinburgh and meeting her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

DISLIKES: Airlines that overbook flights and expect you to be happy about it - only to find out the seats were reserved for staff instead of paying passengers!!

Comments1 of 1

my son and I were at Murrayfield and saw Jonah, it was so good to see him fit and well. We were both very disapointed that Mr.Hadden chose to play a very weak team against the All Blacks. Both sets of supporters had paid big BUCKS to see the game, unlike all the fat cats who got in free.
Best wishes to Jonah,
Allan and Grant Wallace.
From wallaceewanrae on Thu Sep 27 02:02PM
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