Video - Thousands flock to see Wales training session in Kitakyushu
Wales World Cup campaign had a spectacular lift-off in Kitakyushu on Monday when 15,000 people attended an open training session.
Kitakyushu Stadium was packed to the rafters as tournament fever gripped a city that has been turned into a home from home for Wales’ squad.
? Gofyn wyf am galon hapus,
Calon onest, calon lân ?This is music to our ears! Domo arigato, Kitakyushu ?? #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/TW2QcVL99y
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 16, 2019
Former Wales captain and triple Grand Slam winner Ryan Jones has been a driving force in establishing strong rugby links between the Welsh Rugby Union and Kitakyushu.
He said: “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my career. It’s astonishing and it has been really emotional.
“It’s been like hosting a party. We got up this morning and we were saying ‘oh, I hope it goes well today and people will turn up’.
“Then to see the queues and then to see the players’ faces when they came out, it was just magic.
“It has exceeded all our expectations. But what has really warmed my heart is that it has shown how really strong the brand of Welsh rugby is. People know it’s us, they love the colour red, but also how powerful rugby is.
“It’s great as the guys are one week out from our first game, and to have an experience like this brings it home how amazing an event it is. It will give the players a huge lift.
“You see people driving past when you stop at traffic lights and they’ll recognise the three feathers and they start banging the windows and waving."
Young guns @owenwatkinn and @aaronwain97 have been amazed by Wales' reception in Japan ? https://t.co/fSonYFeoqv #HWFN pic.twitter.com/7nqVDwornU
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 16, 2019
“The dream was to turn the city red and we’ve done that. They weren’t a (World Cup) host city and we wanted to bring the Rugby World Cup to them.
“They offered to host us and it is a wonderful city. It is quite similar to a Welsh city as well. It’s based on history and the people are incredibly humble.
“What we’ve seen today is the result of 18 months of visits.
There isn't much more we can say than just let you watch this…..@rugbyworldcup pic.twitter.com/8yTcRZL9YU
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 16, 2019
“We have done everything from coaches and referees, we’ve been to special education needs schools, universities, normal schools, businesses. We’ve done talk shows, we’ve done the lot really.”
Huge queues snaked around the stadium more than two hours ahead of the Wales squad’s short journey from their hotel.
The players arrived to a sea of red shirts and a rendition of the Welsh national anthem – which was later followed by the hymn Calon Lan.
This is incredible. Our open session here in Kitakyushu is about to begin. More than 15,000 people have packed the stadium in the city. pic.twitter.com/BL23hmFsCY
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 16, 2019
And Monday’s scenes followed the players’ arrival in the southern Japanese city two days ago, when hundreds of local schoolchildren greeted them at Kitakyushu International Airport.
The city centre, meanwhile, had long been decked out in Welsh flags and “Go, Go Wales” banners.
Jones added: “We couldn’t have picked a better partner. The people, the city, have just been magnificent.
“It has shown what impact can be made by having very much a can do attitude, that rugby is for everyone. It has grown every time we have been here.
“When you look back on things in your career, establishing this has been magnificent.
“Seeing the guys (players) when they arrived at the welcome party the other night, and seeing their faces here, they didn’t comprehend it. They have never seen anything like that and they will remember it forever. I know we will be back – and long may it continue.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 Go to comments