‘Japan desperate to play Scotland’ – Jamie Joseph
Despite the threat of Typhoon Hagibis, Japan are desperate to take on Scotland in their final Rugby World Cup pool match in Yokohama on Sunday.
That was the word from the Brave Blossoms’ head coach Jamie Joseph, who slammed suggestions his team is not keen to face Gregor Townsend’s charges.
A cancellation, due to the typhoon, would mean the teams will be awarded two points apiece and Japan would therefore advance to the quarter-finals while Scotland will be eliminated.
Tournament organisers said on Thursday that an announcement over whether the match would go ahead or not would be made on Sunday morning.
That has prompted suggestions from some sections of the media to suggest that Joseph and his team would favour the match to be cancelled. But the coach dismissed that notion, insisting the Brave Blossoms are eager to play in order to prove that they belong at the game’s highest level.
“In the past few days, through the media reports that I’ve read, I feel they’ve undermined the achievements of the Japanese national team,” said Joseph.
“We’ve played and won three Test matches, and that has put us in the best position within our pool. I’d like to remind everybody it hasn’t been a fluke. It’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people.
“Everyone in our squad, players and coaches, want to play the Test match. We all want to earn the right to be considered one of the elite teams in the world.
Latest from Tokyo – strong stuff from Japan boss Jamie Joseph. Hits out at lack of respect being shown towards his team and bristling at perception Blossoms would be happy with a cancellation as it would guarantee qualification.
— Chris Jones BBC (@chjones9) October 11, 2019
“It’s important for us to wake up on Monday morning and understand we are either a worthy top-eight team or we’re not. My team is motivated by achieving something that is great, not avoiding an embarrassment.”
Japan number eight Kazuki Himeno echoed his coach’s sentiments and said the Brave Blossoms have been trying to prepare for Sunday’s game as normal, and would not be drawn on the prospect of the match being called off on Sunday.
“Of course, the typhoon is coming but that’s not something we can control,” he said.
“Personally, and for the whole squad, we just have to keep doing the things we have always done. We have to understand clearly what we have to do to beat Scotland.
“We have to prepare ourselves physically and mentally in order to be 100 percent for the match.”
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