Springboks set to reinforce Japan-led approach to optimum performance
In 2019, ahead of the first World Cup held outside of the traditional rugby nations, Japan took a unique approach to preparing for the showcase competition.
Instead of the Brave Blossoms players turning out week after week for the Sunwolves, Jamie Joseph regularly pulled men out of Super Rugby altogether to train with the national squad.
While the Sunwolves were playing the top teams, the World Cup training squad was competing against Super Rugby development sides. Matches were limited – both in volume and in challenge – but that didn’t bother Joseph. Come the World Cup, the Brave Blossoms were one of the most cohesive and well put-together sides.
Japan’s players were fresh and ready for action and played the likes of Ireland and Scotland off their feet. They also had a clean bill of health, and they achieved a historic quarter-final finish at the competition.
Contrast that with the likes of traditional superpower England.
While Japan were wrapping their players in cotton wool and keeping their playing minutes to a minimum, England supersized their schedule.
In 2019, Japan played just four tests – against Tonga, Fiji, USA and South Africa – in the lead-up to the World Cup.
England played nine.
While England’s top stars – who were expected to peak in November – began their campaign in February with a match against Ireland, Japan’s brightest were playing in the odd Super Rugby match, but mostly sticking to training camps.
Come the end of the year, Japan played nine tests altogether. England played 15 – and it would have been 16 if their World Cup pool match with France hadn’t been cancelled due to the typhoon that hit Japan part-way through the tournament.
It's fine for Tonga to put the Cook Islands to the sword but God forbid a tier-one team is forced to play a tier-two team outside of the World Cup ? https://t.co/EkcrJKf7AJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 25, 2021
It was Japan, however, who overachieved – while England fell short at the final hurdle.
In short, Jamie Joseph and the Brave Blossoms showed that contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to play a lot of tough rugby to prepare for big matches.
Last year, Argentina made a similar statement, finishing second in the Tri-Nations, going undefeated against the Wallabies and recording their first-ever win over the All Blacks.
That was all on the back of minimal preparation throughout the season due to the impact of COVID.
The Jaguares played a handful of games before the world came to a standstill, and Argentina’s top players were put on ice and didn’t play a single professional game until they showed up in Australia hungry to prove that a lack of minutes wouldn’t hold them back.
Now, a similar task is being asked of the Springboks.
While half of the squad plays their club rugby in Europe, the remainder have been limited to dribs and drabs of minutes in the Rainbow Cup and a handful of Currie Cup matches (when Covid hasn’t forced round-wide cancellations).
As a team, the Springboks have played just two games together since their 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph – the rusty first-up clash with Georgia at the start of the month, and their win over the Lions while playing under the guise of South Africa A.
Unsurprisingly, both the Springboks and the Lions looked far from their best in their opening test on Saturday, with the result ultimately boiling down to which team made the fewest unforced errors.
While the Lions have now played a handful of matches as part of their tour, the team they rolled out in their 5-point win over South Africa was almost an entirely new composition to any line-up they’d fielded in the past three weeks. As such, it’s no major surprise the team looked rusty.
“We can certainly salvage this. A proper review is needed, but we can sort it out, no doubt."#CastleLionsSeries #LionsSA2021 https://t.co/PbxCA5U335
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 24, 2021
In past tours, the Lions have tended to field a team very close to their top line-up in at least one of their warm-up matches played prior to the first test.
In 2017, the match-day squad they rolled out against the Crusaders on June 10 and the Maori All Blacks on June 17 was, bar a few players, the same as their test team.
They’ve had no such opportunity this year, however, due to players being put into isolation for short burst of time whenever any potential signs of sickness appear.
What we’re left with are two teams that haven’t played a whole lot of rugby together and might lack match cohesiveness. Cohesiveness doesn’t have to just be built on the playing field, however, as Japan showed in 2019 – it can be forged on the training pitch.
The important thing is that both teams should be physically fresh come the second test and with another game and a week of training under their belts, the best is clearly yet to come for this series.
The global pandemic has seen to it that this won’t be the Lions tour that was so eagerly anticipated following the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup triumph, but a lack of game time shouldn’t preclude it from still playing out in an exciting fashion.
Saturday’s game was not easy on the eyes but that will quickly change and, providing South Africa can come back strong in the second test, we still should have a tense series on our hands.
Comments on RugbyPass
Bell 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.
13 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?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
13 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to comments