Ex-All Black wants Fiji, Japan to be added to 2021 Rugby Championship
Former All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan has called for Fiji and Japan to be included in this year’s edition of the Rugby Championship.
Speaking on Sky Sport‘s The Breakdown on Monday, Kirwan said the competition, which is organised by SANZAAR and pits the All Blacks, Wallabies, Springboks and Los Pumas against each other, needs Fiji and Japan “right now”.
“The Championship needs Japan, Fiji in it right now. This year,” Kirwan, who coached Japan between 2007 and 2011, said.
Kirwan’s claim was supported by Sky Sport broadcaster Ken Laban, who said it isn’t too late for the Flying Fijians and Brave Blossoms to be added to the 2021 Rugby Championship, which kicks-off next month.
“Firstly, JK’s [Kirwan’s] 100 percent right. We need to have Japan involved, and we need to have Fiji involved,” Laban told The Breakdown.
“Fijian Drua are coming into Super Rugby, it’s going to do amazing things for their national team because, in the future, the bulk of the Fijian national team is going to come out of that Fijian Drua side.
“So, they’re going to be playing the top Super Rugby franchises in Australia and New Zealand, and they’re only going to become more competitive.
“Already we’ve seen in Japan, ahead of their professional competition in 2022, the quality of the coaches, the quality of the players, of the signings that they have up there, they could be very competitive.
“JK’s 100 percent right. It’s not too late to put them in the Championship right now, and I agree. It would be wonderful.”
Kirwan’s and Laban’s comments come after Fiji impressed in a 57-23 defeat to the All Blacks at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin last weekend.
Although the scoreline blew out in the final quarter of the match as the visitors suffered the repercussions of limited preparation due to quarantine restrictions, Fiji – ranked 11th in the world – kept in touch of the All Blacks for much of the contest.
After taking an early lead through the boot of Ben Volavola, the Fijians trailed by only 10 points at half-time and scored a penalty try with 20 minutes to play that brought them to within eight points of the hosts.
Brad Weber enjoys having All Blacks rookie Finlay Christie in the national squad, but he seems equally aware of the threat it poses to his chances of selection. #AllBlacks #NZLvFIJ https://t.co/szALhJWSOO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 13, 2021
A lack of conditioning and team cohesion eventually wore Vern Cotter’s side out as the match came to an end, but Fiji’s tenacity and physicality at the breakdown drew plenty of plaudits as the All Blacks struggled to combat the onslaught.
Asked after the match whether he believed Fiji merited a place in the Rugby Championship, All Blacks head coach Ian Foster remained coy on the issue, although he said a solution is needed over the Pacific Island nation’s future.
“I’ve had a whole week of listening to that, eligibilities and all sorts of stuff, and I’m just a rugby coach,” he said on Saturday.
“I’m just going to prepare for next week and let you guys talk about all that, but all I’d say to you is at the start of the week, we’d said that Fiji are a quality rugby team.
“If you go back the last two years, you look at the World Cup, they produced, I’d say, better performances than that [against the All Blacks], but they’re very capable, so what’s next for them, we need a solution.”
Cotter was, by comparison, more outspoken than his Kiwi counterpart as he said he believed that his side had shown enough quality to validate a place alongside the southern hemisphere’s top teams.
“If you can get those games more often, you get to measure yourself against the best teams more often, you will improve, and that type of competition does improve them,” Cotter said on Saturday.
“I think they’ve shown probably enough in this game to be offered more opportunities to play those teams. I hope so. It will be a great challenge that can develop the Fijian talent.
“The sevens team’s going well, they’ve got the Olympics coming up. There’s some talent there from the island that need exposure.
“There’s a lot of things to develop Fijian rugby to be up there, but they’re amazing, explosive athletes, and it’s a joy to watch them play when you see them throwing themselves around the paddock.
“To see them more often against good teams, it will be great.”
Like Fiji, Japan have not yet been admitted into the Rugby Championship, or any kind of annual competition against leading rugby nations, despite the country’s success in recent years.
At the 2015 World Cup, Japan clinched the greatest upset in rugby history when they defeated the Springboks 34-32 as they became the first-ever team not to qualify for the quarter-finals despite winning three of their four pool matches.
Fiji’s competitive performance against the All Blacks in Dunedin may be a sign of the positive things to come under head coach Vern Cotter. #NZLvFIJ https://t.co/buCsTBuyIH
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 13, 2021
The Brave Blossoms followed that up with a strong showing at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, where they went undefeated in the pool stages, beating the likes of Ireland and Scotland, to top their group and qualify the quarter-finals for the first time ever.
Japan returned to international rugby for the first time since the last World Cup earlier this month as they lost to the British and Irish Lions and Ireland in competitive fashion.
Shortly after Japan’s clash with the Lions, Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos indicated the SANZAAR nations are open to the idea of expanding the number of teams in the Rugby Championship after the 2023 World Cup.
However, the former SANZAAR boss remains cautious of the potential pitfalls that come with the expansion of any competition, an issue he was confronted with during his time in charge of Super Rugby between 2015 and 2020.
“The Japan – or any expansion – opportunity would be something we’d look at post the World Cup [in 2023],” Marinos told Stuff.
“We had looked at trying to set up an emerging nations competition, and have our respective ‘A’ teams playing in that competition.
“The big thing we’ve seen, and I’ve said it many times, when the Six Nations expanded from five to six [to include Italy], you want to be able to make sure the teams competing are competitive, week-in, week out.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, coming into a SANZAAR relationship, you’re putting yourself up against arguably three or four of the best teams in the world, on their given day.
“There’s no easy games in that. You want to preserve the competition integrity from that perspective, and make sure the high performance requirements are met, and they understand the commercials around that.
“We [SANZAAR] are no longer in a position to subsidise participation of teams, given the impact everyone has experienced.”
The 2021 Rugby Championship kicks-off on August 15 when the Springboks face Los Pumas at a yet-to-be-determined venue.
Due to COVID-19, this year’s competition is scheduled to be co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, with the exception of the two matches between the Springboks and Los Pumas, both of which are expected to be played in South Africa.
Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments