Loose Pass: Japan, Wales and Danny Cipriani

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This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Japan, Wales and Danny Cipriani. Oh yes of course, and Ireland… and New Zealand.

Lost in the green mist

It’s hardly bad form to forget about everything else in a week when New Zealand are knocked off their perch for a few days, but the excellence of Japan last weekend has seemingly passed all by almost unnoticed.

The first-half stats from a team many thought might easily take a 50-point whopping were magnificent. 77 per cent territory and 69 per cent possession, and an extraordinary 8-1 win on the penalty count.

The skills on show were superb. Passes were made from the back of the hand, around tacklers, through legs, flicked over the head. Support lines were ever-present. 15-10 at half-time down to Japan flattered England.

It was unlikely to last to the end as that infamous match against South Africa at the World Cup had. That was a World Cup, this a tour match played by players scraping by on a daily pittance. Japan’s lack of depth on the bench was exposed, while the insertion of Owen Farrell clearly had a positive effect for the hosts.

But Japan are clearly no one-cup wonders. The foundations laid by the Eddie Jones era are being well built on and at their own World Cup, Japan promise once again to be the surprise story.

Ireland, New Zealand and…

Again, not awful form to not notice other things in a week when Ireland beat New Zealand, but the Irish are not the only northern hemisphere team looking to be running smoothly and quickly in the right direction ahead of next September.

Warren Gatland finally has a back-up team. Wales have historically found their tier two November Test something of an ordeal in the past, with reserves and experiments rarely living up to their Test jersey. With respect, narrow wins over Georgia are not what you expect your reserves to be claiming as a tier one nation.

Saturday saw a Welsh second string notch 70 points over Tonga – admittedly shorn of a few starters themselves – with a number of young and fringe players answering questions asked of them emphatically. It’s not the first time the reserves have stepped up either; Argentina felt the full force of a shadow tight five in June this year.

“We’ve got 40 players and you think eight or nine of them are going to miss out on the World Cup squad,” said Gatland, who has historically not been one to pick on sentiment either. But whoever makes the cut and whoever doesn’t, Wales are in just as good a place as Ireland right now – that clash in the Six Nations should be something else.

Meanwhile, in the provinces…

Still frozen out, still carving up defences for fun, still forced to look on as George Ford once again finds himself struggling to ask the questions opponents ask of his defence, Danny Cipriani could well end up one of the most talented players never to grace a World Cup.

Ollie Thorley’s second try on the night for Gloucester has to be a contender for try of the season, but for the all-round game it was the Cipriani show again, especially the first-half of Gloucester‘s win over Leicester.

Surely one, just one last chance to see if he can crack it in white in the Six Nations?

Ah yes, and that match

So does this make Ireland the number one team in the world? Steve Hansen believes so, while Joe Schmidt doesn’t.

It was a performance worthy of that mantle. Beating the All Blacks is one thing, keeping them tryless is quite another. There were heroes all over the pitch, from man of the match Peter O’Mahony doing the dirty work in defence all night, to stalwart Keith Earls playing perhaps his best in an Ireland jersey yet.

But the moment that decided this game was the moment Ireland perhaps really did lay claim to the mantle. In a game that could only be decided by inspiration, something the All Blacks have always been able to draw on at the last, it was Ireland this time who had a player able to find the special something. New Zealand, for the first time in how long, just couldn’t.

And it is this that makes, in our eyes, Ireland now the best team in the world.

Now. But let’s see. It’s rare indeed that New Zealand do not react to a defeat by improving significantly. And there’s Wales coming up on the blind side. And let’s not forget South Africa, who scored five tries on their way to beating New Zealand earlier this year.

It’s been a bit one-dimensional in international rugby this past two years, but what a World Cup Japan 2019 is lining up to be.

Loose Pass compiled by Lawrence Nolan

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