Boks preparing for Ferraris and Japanese tempo

The Springboks will be pulling out all the stops this week to ready themselves for the bold Japanese quest for 50 minutes of ball in play in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal at Tokyo Stadium.

Japan coach Jamie Joseph said after his team’s 28-21 win over Scotland that secured themselves their place in the play-offs for the first time that the aim was to get to what would be an unprecedented 50 minutes of ball in play time before the end of this tournament. They managed 39 minutes against Scotland, which in itself is already remarkable.

“Their plan is to keep the ball in play for 50 minutes against us and that is going to be a massive challenge for us to combat and overcome,” said assistant coach Mzwandile Stick as the Boks started their Japan focused preparations for the quarterfinal on Tuesday.

“We will just have to adjust how own game and come up with a good plan. But we’ve already been working hard at training sessions to keep up with that kind of tempo. They play everything at high speed, it really is an incredibly high tempo. They are a very skilful side too. I must compliment them on that.

“As a coach who focuses quite a lot on attack, I have been very impressed with what I have seen from Japan. They’re a very good side and we know the whole country is excited and behind them. They’ve grown a lot in the last few years and are playing great running rugby. The speed they played with against Scotland was astounding. That was a proper performance.”

Stick was determined not to give any of the Bok plan away and refused to be drawn by a question on whether the Boks would subject the Japanese to a high ball barrage of the sort that worked in the warm-up game played between the two teams five weeks ago.

However, what he did say was that the players playing in the Bok back three would have to be on their toes to thwart the intentions of what Joseph has dubbed his two Ferraris, wingers Kataro Matsushima and Kenki Fukuoka. The latter won the man of the match award for his two tries as well as his role in setting up the first try scored by Matsushima.

“If you look at the background of their coaching staff you realise that there are lots of elements of the New Zealand playing style in the Japanese game. They’ve got Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown, a strong Kiwi philosophy. But the side they might remind me the most of is Argentina, when Argentina get it between the teeth and have momentum.

“The Pumas are a side who become more dangerous when they have lots of ball in play time. But Japan are very dangerous. The two wings have been compared to Ferraris so it looks like our task on Sunday will be to prevent those Ferraris from going at 50 or 60 miles an hour. If they get opportunities we will be in trouble.”

Stick added that dealing with the pressure of playing the host nation in front of a massive crowd would go a long way towards putting the Boks on the path to be successful and to secure their place in the semifinal round.

“We know we are playing against the host nation and they will play with a lot of passion. We watched the game against Scotland on television and we saw the vibe, we know how passionate they are, and we know how proud Japan is when it comes to the supporters side of things.

“But the nice thing for us is that the Japan supporters have been good to us. We’ve been here for six weeks now and the hospitality has been amazing. At every airport we go to there have been banners supporting our players. We have even seen a Kwagga Smith supporters club. There was one place where there were lots of banners about Kwagga, and images of Kwagga’s face on shirts and jerseys. We feel that we have at least managed to get a support base here in Japan.”

That will come in handy if the Boks beat Japan on Sunday and go further in the tournament, but beating Japan is something that still needs to be done and Stick reckons to do it sticking to the plans that are formulated this week will be crucial.

“Japan have a plan and well coached, and seeing their plans coming together reminds us of how important it is for us to also have a plan in place that will thwart theirs,” he said.

“What we do know is that if you underestimate them you are in trouble as they are a proper side. They are not a tier two team anymore. They are ranked seventh in the world, so any surprises they might have on the day we must be ready for.”