That's Rich: Gavin's World Cup diary (part three)

“See you in the final”. Those were the words of some of the New Zealand journalists as they said goodbye to us after Saturday’s Pool B opener at Yokohama Stadium. Apparently All Black coach Steve Hansen said something similar to his Springbok counterpart Rassie Erasmus.

The perception that the weekend’s game is a preview to the tournament decider on 2 November is not just limited to New Zealanders - several of the neutral hacks at Saturday’s game also seem quite convinced this World Cup will see the first final between the two southern hemisphere rivals since the 1995 epic in Johannesburg.

PHILOSOPHICAL ABOUT THE DEFEAT

It didn’t take long for the Boks to park the disappointment of the loss. Those players we spoke to in what is known as the Mixed Zone all seemed pretty philosophical about the defeat and what they said about the loss not having any negative psychological impact didn’t seem like an act.

There was frustration but they generally felt that they’d had enough of the game to have won it had they just experienced a bit of luck and, although they couldn’t spell it out directly, perhaps fairer refereeing, with the props intimating that the All Blacks were able to get away with a lot in the scrums. Actually we could even see that much from the press box.

But as Handre Pollard put it, “We now just have to win six out of six”. Which of course is what they’d have had to anyway even if they’d won (you can rule out a defeat in any of the remaining Pool games).

FLAWS AT THE YOKOHAMA STADIUM BUT A PRIVILEGE TO BE THERE

What was the game like as an occasion? A lot of people have asked that question. Of course it was a privilege to be there, and the Yokohama Stadium is an impressive venue. Perhaps because I spend so much time at Newlands, King’s Park or Ellis Park though, my idea of a stadium suited to rugby is one where the fans are close to the action, thus creating a combustible atmosphere.

Yokohama has the same flaws as the London Stadium, meaning the Olympic Stadium that was used during the Rugby World Cup in England and is now the home ground of the West Ham football team. The stands are just too far away from the action, and that detracts from the atmosphere. It’s a personal thing, and I completely get it that it depends on what you’re used to.

SOUTH AFRICAN FANS WERE NOT OUTNUMBERED BY THE KIWIS

It was interesting to see such a large body of South African fans present. I’d thought they’d be outnumbered by the Kiwi fans but that wasn’t the case and their support for the Springboks was voluble.

Perhaps that is the one benefit of having such a big game played so early in the tournament. Most of the Bok fans were here over the opening weekend courtesy of corporate sponsors. Companies would have targeted the game as their World Cup event as it has been on the fixture list for a long time. It is a lot more difficult to organise something around the play-off rounds as there is no guarantee the Boks, or the Kiwis for that matter, will be there.

New Zealand playing South Africa and Ireland playing Scotland on the opening weekend, all of them countries that attract passionate travelling support, was good for the tournament. At some World Cups, when the opening round of fixtures have been low key games, the support arrives in dribs and drabs. This one was off to a fast and strong start.

THE TOURNAMENT COULD DO WITH BETTER TV COVERAGE

The tournament needed a strong opening weekend too because it is a challenge staging an event like the World Cup in what is effectively a second tier rugby nation. I’m staying in a good four star hotel in Nagoya and was unable to find the Nambia/Italy game on any of the offered television channels, and it was the same in Yokohama the day before when I wanted to watch Australia/Fiji. I am in Japan to cover the World Cup and yet I had to rely on friends back home to update me on the scores.

There is evidence that there is a World Cup on at the stations and airports, with a lot of World Cup branding and posters championing the event, but you understandably don’t feel the same level of all-round interest that we have at the more recent World Cups in England, New Zealand and France.

JAPANESE ENTHUSIASM IS INFECTIOUS

Myself and a colleague found a pub near our Yokohama hotel that was screening the opening ceremony and the opening game between Japan and Russia. And there was no faulting the enthusiasm of the Japanese people present. The first Japanese try was met by joyful celebrations and we overheard someone say “We’ll go to the final”. That won’t happen, but the enthusiasm was encouraging.

SINGING OVER THE HAKA CAN BE IRRITABLE

The number of Springbok supporters at the Yokohama Stadium meant that they were able to negatively impact on the drama that is the All Black Haka by singing over it like they do back home. You have a right to do what you like (within reason of course) when you pay to watch a game, but the ignorance of the action is irritating to those people who understand the meaning of the Haka and the respect which players who face it have for it.

“Now I can go and farm, I’ve done it all,” was how former Bok hooker Charl Marais described what went through his mind the first time he faced the Haka. And the consensus of the ex-Boks who I interviewed for a book that’s just been released was the same. They all ranked facing the Haka among their special memories, and a couple of them told me how irritating it has been since they have retired being at games where the fans have disrespected it.

Fans who sing over the Haka think they might be supporting the Boks by doing so but the players themselves don’t necessarily want that. The players from the two countries have a lot of respect for each other and the Boks see the challenge to war as a motivation as much for themselves as it is for the All Blacks.

THE LANGUAGE BARRIER MADE COMMUNICATION ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE

The Japanese are wonderful people and it is an amazing experience to be here, but the communication barriers do make this a much more challenging World Cup to cover and to support than others have been.

When myself and a colleague went to pick up accreditation for the game on Saturday morning, it was almost impossible to figure out where to go because it felt like everywhere we looked there was just Japanese writing. There was some English here and there, but no mention of the word media. A policeman who maybe half understood what we were asking directed us to the main entrance. But our attempts to get to a kiosk that looked like it was inhabited by people who might be able to help us were thwarted by security officials who kept pointing at their own accreditation cards and then at where ours should have been and making the cross sign with their fingers.

That was easy enough to understand, but it was infuriating because that’s exactly what we were there to fetch. How to put that across? My colleague tried to explain in English several times, but I reminded him that if you keep repeating something that doesn’t work it is a sign of madness: “If they didn’t understand English the first time you spoke they’re not going to suddenly understand it now, English is not something you suddenly pick up after a minute.”

When you are in a foreign country you do as your hosts do and when you agree to stage a World Cup in Japan you take what comes with it. But seeing it is an international event it might be an idea for the World Cup organisers to employ people every few hundred metres on the concourse running around the stadium perimeter who can be specifically tasked with dealing with communication issues.

FAST TRAINS UNDERSCORE JAPANESE EFFICIENCY

We headed out of Yokohama bound for Nagoya on Sunday on a train that could be described as the Cheslin Kolbe of trains and what a great way to travel. Like the TGV in France, these trains are a joy and I am completely with the President of our country in his desire to see fast trains introduced to South Africa.

What no country would find easy to emulate though is the Japanese efficiency. When you travel on the metro or on the overland lines everything goes like clockwork and the Japanese are so super-efficient and exact. There’s none of that stopping on a line outside a station to wait for another train to move on or for a signal to change like you so often get on the London system.

Maybe the Japanese can be too exact at times, for it has quickly become apparent that when there’s a sign saying “Breakfast 7am to 10am” that means exactly what it says. If you get there just before 10 there can be no dawdling over your food because 10.01 means breakfast is over.

That’s probably fair too. No unnecessary fiddy-faddying about.

THE JAPANESE ARE KIND AND RESPECTFUL

If any of this comes across as negative towards the Japanese, that is exactly the wrong impression that should be created. The kindness, level of respect that the Japanese show to visitors, and their ability to try and communicate even when it is so hard to do so, has to be experienced to be believed.

I’ve lost count of the number of times we, meaning myself and journalist colleagues, have been lost on the subway system or needed to find out directions and we’ve been helped out by people who seem happy to give so much of their time to help us out.