'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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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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