Fans divided as to where Japan's future best lies
After Japan secured a place in the World Cup quarter-finals, beating Ireland and Scotland in the process, it has become a matter of when – not if – they join one of rugby’s top international competitions.
A staggering 60 million people in Japan watched their team beat Scotland on Sunday to top Pool A and book their first-ever quarter-final against South Africa this weekend.
They have clearly proven they can compete with tier one nations and deserve a seat at the top table, but the question where do they go may be the biggest hurdle to overcome for World Rugby.
This has sparked an enormous discussion on social media, as people have been calling for them to join the Six Nations, boosting the number to seven or even implementing relegation in a move that would change the complexion of the competition dramatically.
Currently, the furthest any team needs to travel is from Edinburgh to Rome, so adding Japan to the competition would end this convenient geographical proximity. But some people on Twitter have noted that the Rugby Championship spans the entire southern hemisphere and works.
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Although the Six Nations’ selling point is that all teams are within close proximity of one another, it will be interesting as to whether the growth of the game outweighs the commercial interests. A slightly more convincing argument may be that a seven-nation competition – or even eight including Georgia – will create a cluttered calendar for players that already have a taxing workload.
This is why there are as many fans that are calling for them to join the Rugby Championship, which only has the four teams presently. With Fiji also proving at this RWC that they deserve to be regarded as one of rugby’s top teams, they could also find themselves in the Rugby Championship.
Plans for a new club competition in Japan could force Southern Hemisphere test stars to choose between the international arena and the riches on offer in Asia.https://t.co/7BLCYr23ho
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 15, 2019
This could create a southern hemisphere version of the Six Nations, played in a similar format to the existing competition. However, the problem with this idea is the geography as the competition would then be played in four continents and in both the northern and southern hemisphere.
With all this talk about Japan and Fiji joining top competitions, it is increasingly becoming similar to the Nations Championship that was proposed by World Rugby. This idea was rejected by some nations, although fans are calling for something that now sounds very similar. This has been the reaction:
https://twitter.com/BoxFreshLitha/status/1183657931650277376?s=20
Add Japan and Georgia to a restructured northern hemisphere comp. and Samoa, Tonga and Fiji to the Rugby Championship. Ditch the Prem Rugby Cup to free up time in the congested season calendar. With promotion and relegation to both.
— DangerSmurf (@SmurfDanger) October 15, 2019
Japan needs to be put in The Rugby Championship ASAP. #RWC2019 @WorldRugby #sanzaar
— Steven monteith (@Stevenronmon) October 13, 2019
Hey @WorldRugby, you know what to do. +Japan and Fiji for Rugby Championship immediately
— Donnacha McCormack ?????? (@dunta90) October 13, 2019
Get Japan in the Rugby Championship now. Anything else and they will eventually lose their momentum.#RWC2019
— Reginaldo Rosario (@Regi1700) October 13, 2019
If Argentina can be in the Rugby Championship despite being on the other side of the world to Australia and New Zealand: who says that we can't make the Six Nations the Seven Nations with Japan? I don't think anyone would object to that after the way they've played! #JPNvSCO
— IceAgeComing ?????? (@IceAgeComingSA) October 13, 2019
Bring Japan ?? to six nations and make it seven nations !! ( Or keep it at six and Bin the Scots ?? )
— Harley T R Williams (@HarleyTWilliams) October 13, 2019
Japan ?? must be given tier one status hey get them in the six nations @rugbyworldcup
— Russell Lawrance (@Strive_Excel) October 13, 2019
A timezone competition has also been suggested, which would see South Africa join the European competition, and Japan join the likes of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. That is one alternative that shows promise, but once again provides problems regarding Argentina’s place.
What is clear after this RWC is that Japan are now a top team with a huge amount of support. As a point of comparison, Italy, who have been in the Six Nations now for 20 years, have never reached a quarter-final.
The lingering problem, however, is where Japan fit into the global rugby landscape, but something must be done as soon as possible.
WATCH: The Sunwolves are the unlikely heroes behind Japan’s dream run to the World Cup quarter-finals
Comments on RugbyPass
While Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to comments