How 34 million people sitting up in the middle of the night in Japan to watch them play tells you they have passion for rugby
England’s arrival into the setting that made ‘The Brighton Miracle’ possible has stirred Steve Borthwick’s memory of how a successful World Cup can inspire a nation.
Borthwick helped mastermind Japan’s seismic 34-32 victory over South Africa four years ago and the greatest upset in rugby history has been turned into a film that premiered in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Foundations for the theatrics at The Amex were laid in Miyazaki, where Eddie Jones oversaw a brutal training camp that shaped the Brave Blossoms into a giant-killing force that won hearts and minds at their most impactful World Cup.
Jones has revisited the coastal backdrop to prepare England for a pool stage that opens against Tonga on September 22 and Borthwick hopes it can act as the launchpad for another tale that will enter the sport’s folklore.
(Continue reading below…)
“We have a gym downstairs under the car park here and it’s exactly where we had the gym four years ago,” said Jones’ No2. “At about 5am I was walking down there and thinking to myself ‘with Japan, this is where we started training, at 5.20am’. It was the time we would be walking there.
“I distinctly remember Eddie addressing the Japan team in 2014. He said: ‘We can’t win the World Cup, Japan aren’t a good enough team, but we can be the team of the World Cup.’ He said: ‘We can inspire a nation, we can make people want to play rugby in this country and we can create a new history for Japanese rugby. We can make the quarter-finals.’
“Did that team create a new history? Did they inspire people? Everything I have seen when I have been out here since says ‘yes’. They were the team of the World Cup. We were a lot of people’s second favourite team. We didn’t make the quarter-finals, so we failed on the third one.
Mike Brown fronts up at the Gallagher Premiership launch in his first interview since being excluded from England's World Cup squad https://t.co/0KLOYYQgL4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 11, 2019
“If I played a small part in helping players achieve things they had not imagined before, memories they have for the rest of their lives – and if we helped inspire kids to play rugby – then I am very happy to have played a small part in that.
“I was 14 years old when I said ‘I want to play rugby for England’. As a kid, I would just dream of it. Our players would all have had, at some point, the same dream of playing for England. Now they are in the England squad. There are kids back in England saying this is their dream and we have an opportunity to inspire.
“We will do our very best here. We have prepared well. We are excited about the tournament. It is great to be out here in Japan. We will do our very best.”
Rising Sons: Episode 10 https://t.co/noPsrZ2E0w via @YouTube
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) September 10, 2019
England’s first full day in Miyazaki was partially taken up by a community visit to a local high school where a brass band played ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen as the players sat on stage soaking up a friendly welcome.
Hundreds of children watched as fly-half George Ford exchanged passes with the captain of the school rugby team before gifts were exchanged and Borthwick gave a short speech in Japanese. The group of visiting players, all of whom were backs, then performed archery before returning to the team hotel.
“This will be an excellent World Cup. Having lived out here I have seen the excitement they have about rugby and that transformation with the team at 2015,” Borthwick said.
“Hearing about how 34 million people sat up in the middle of the night in Japan to watch the team play back in England tells you that they have passion for rugby. You can see it at this school with all the kids and the excitement the boy had at passing a rugby ball to George Ford.”
– Press Association
WATCH: The RugbyPass guide to Sapporo where England will open their World Cup campaign against Tonga on September 22
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments