Japan’s promotion into the Southern Hemisphere’s showpiece event looked like a no-brainer after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, a win-win situation in which the likes of Australia would gorge on Japanese corporate support in return for helping Japan climb up the rankings.
But after Eddie Jones’ side were thrashed 64-19 by an understrength All Blacks side on Saturday, the Brave Blossoms are No 14 in the world and appear to be no chance of imminent inclusion into the Sanzaar club.
COVID-19 halted Japan’s momentum and Jones’ side on Saturday managed to look both off the standard required physically and over-reliant on imported Australians, New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders.
Jones is plotting ahead for the 2027 Rugby World Cup – smash and grab, the sequel – but Japan’s place in the global pecking order has looked uncertain in recent months, with the All Blacks defeat following a heavy loss to Fiji in Japan.
They do not look remotely well enough equipped to deal with the physicality needed in the Rugby Championship.
Asafo Aumua charges forward for the All Blacks against Japan.Credit: Getty Images
2 Australia’s Japan conundrum
As Japan Rugby League One chief operating officer Hajime Shoji told me this week, Japan’s domestic competition doesn’t want to be part of Super Rugby at the moment, instead preferring a formalised playoff structure after the Super Rugby and JRLO seasons.
That comes with the lure of potential corporate support, which Australia would relish, but there is also a big catch. Shoji acknowledged that while JRLO and the Japan test team are separate entities, they are inextricably linked.
The Brave Blossoms’ current uncompetitiveness, therefore, does not reflect well on the JRLO (no doubt much to the chagrin of the JRLO coaches), and trying to sell a post-Super Rugby playoffs format in Australia and New Zealand will be hard if trans-Tasman fans feel the Japanese teams are inferior.
If Australia and New Zealand want into the Japanese market – and let’s face it they are not engaging with them at the minute through altruism – they may have to take a leap of faith and adopt a longer-term view.
Eddie Jones watches his team warm up before meeting the All Blacks.
Credit: AP
3 Cheika effect proves real again
Eddie Jones might be struggling in Japan, but Michael Cheika has hit the ground running at Leicester. Cheika has won five out his first six games in the UK, and Leicester are sitting second on the ladder. That is quite the turnaround from last year, when they finished eighth in the 10-team English competition under Dan McKellar.
Cheika is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, and he has already had a run-in with officialdom in England, but his ability to make an impact early wherever he goes does not show any sign of disappearing.
If anything, it also shows that he has a real knack of picking the right job at the right time, a skill that is probably underappreciated.
4 Izaia Perese does a Tane Edmed at Leicester
The former Waratahs midfielder had a poor Super Rugby season – well off the standards he set last year. Yet, there he was overnight on Saturday picking up the man of the match award as Leicester beat Saracens for Cheika’s fifth win of the season.
The 27-year-old has always been a great carrier of the ball, and his display should put to bed once again that idea that Australia isn’t producing good rugby players (James Ramm and Josh Kemeny both scored in Northampton’s loss to Bristol).
The Waratahs have clearly turned the page after a disappointing season, but the scale of their underachievement in 2024 is becoming more apparent with every month as players who struggled start to thrive for different teams.
5 The battle for the World Rugby chair – and executive
Brett Robinson’s candidacy will go to the vote in Dublin next month, when he will go head to head with Abdel Benazzi of France and Andrea Rinaldo of Italy.
Former Wallaby and World Rugby Chair candidate Brett Robinson at home in Brisbane.Credit: RetireAustralia
However, he won’t be the only prominent Australian up for election, with John Eales running for one of two Southern Hemisphere spots on the highly influential World Rugby executive committee.
Eales will go up against Bart Campbell (New Zealand), SA Rugby president Mark Alexander and Argentina’s Agustin Pichot, so the politicking involved will be intense.
While the chair role has obviously attracted all the attention, the makeup of the executive committee is also seen as fundamental to the direction of the game, and it will also reveal a lot about who really wields power in the sport at present. Australia, New Zealand and England – a significant power bloc – do appear to be aligned at present, with South Africa and France in the opposite corner.
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