'At times they are illegal' - Japanese boss backs his prop in Healy row
Jamie Joseph has doubled down on Japan’s claims that Ireland scrummage illegally. Head coach Joseph backed up prop Yusuke Kizu’s accusation that Ireland prop Cian Healy “steps out” and scrummages in at an illegal angle.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt insisted his side have one of the least penalised scrums in the Test arena in offering a frustrated response to Kizu on Thursday. But after Japan had named their team – confirming squad captain Michael Leitch’s demotion to the bench – Brave Blossoms boss Joseph refused to back away from Kizu’s comments about Ireland’s scrum.
“First thing, Kizu is a young man, probably his first media experience, so that would be the first thing around Kizusan,” said Joseph. “We’re coming up against a very strong scrum. Yes, at times they are illegal, but at all times they are a very strong scrum.
“We know that’s a difficult part of the game, but we’ve really improved our scrum and lineout recently. And it’s an area we’ve been focusing on all week.”
Hosts Japan saw off Russia 30-10 to kick-start the first World Cup in Asia, with the players admitting they had been overawed by the scale of the occasion in Tokyo on Friday. Now the Brave Blossoms will host Ireland in Shizuoka, with both teams eyeing a big step forward in Pool A with a victory.
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Joseph admitted Japan will need “the game of their lives” to beat Ireland and insisted skipper Leitch still has a big role to play despite not starting the encounter. Pieter Labuschagne will captain Japan from the off, with Joseph backing Leitch to have a big impact off the bench.
“What I believe around the game, in terms of our bench, we’ve got to have an impact. If we’re going to be in a position to win the match, it’s going to come down to the last five or 10 minutes,” said Joseph. “And we’ll need clear leadership. Michael has had an injury all year, he’s only played four or five games, and he’s a very key player. But we have a lot of quality loose forwards and in-form players.
“We have in-form players playing really well and experienced players coming on. So as a coach I get to have both things. Labuschagne, what I expect from him as an openside flanker is to get around the ball all the time.
“He doesn’t speak Japanese, he speaks English, but so does the referee. His leadership is natural, his work around the game is outstanding. I’ve been impressed with him as a leader in the last two years at the Sunwolves and he is respected by the players, which is key.
“It’s a huge game for us and these players will need to play the best game of their lives; that’s what they’ll need to be successful on Saturday. In terms of the legacy for the tournament, as a team we want to do something we’ve never done before and that is make the top eight.
“That will leave a legacy for rugby in Japan, but the quality of our play and how we conduct ourselves as a team is also important.”
- Press Association
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No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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