With one foot already in the door, high-flying Japan is confident of sealing its berth at IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 when they take on Hong Kong in their final game of the HSBC Asian Five Nations (HSBC A5N) Top Five competition in Tokyo on Saturday.
In the second match of the weekend, Kazakhstan finds itself in the unique position of either finishing as A5N runners-up and entering the cross-continental play-off for RWC 2011 or facing relegation to Division I against Korea.
Japan only need a point from their final match and as such, even a draw will do. But this will be furthest from the mind of coach John Kirwan who is demanding a complete 80-minute performance from his team.
Kirwan made three changes to the team that thrashed Kazakhstan 101-7 last week for the HSBC Asian Five Nations finale against Hong Kong on Saturday. Ryu Holani returns at No. 8, Alisi Tupuailei is named on the wing and Shinsuke Nakamura starts at tighthead as Japan look to maintain their perfect record in the A5N and, more importantly, qualify for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
“We wanted to make sure Holani was 100 percent right and we need to see how Nakamura has improved,” Kirwan said of the changes.
Holani’s return at No. 8 – his last cap was in November 2008 – means Masakazu Toyota shifts from No. 8 to No. 6. Elsewhere the team is pretty much the side that started against South Korea and Kazakhstan.
“We want to go to the World Cup so we have picked the best team,” Kirwan said.
Shota Horie lines up at hooker with Hisateru Hirashima and Nakamura either side of him. Hitoshi Ono, who will again lead the side, pairs up with Luke Thompson in the engine room with Touetsu Taufa at openside. Fumiaki Tanaka and Shaun Webb carry on at halfback with the Suntory pair of Ryan Nicholas and Koji Taira in the centres, Kosuke Endo on the wing and Goshi Tachikawa at fullback.
Japan goes into the game needing just a point to book its place in Pool A in New Zealand. But that didn’t stop Kirwan from having a few harsh words for his team after what he believed was a less-than-satisfactory captain’s run on Friday.
“I am not happy with the quality of training. I just hope we play better than we train,” he said.
Hong Kong still in with a chance
Hong Kong arrives in Tokyo with high hopes of grabbing the runner-up spot and keeping the dream alive of qualifying for the World Cup through the cross-continental play-offs.
Hong Kong is currently on 12 points and need to beat Japan or grab a bonus point by scoring four tries or finishing within a seven-point margin of defeat to secure the runner-up slot. Failing this, they will have to hope that Kazakhstan either lose to South Korea in the other game on Saturday in Incheon, Korea, or if they win, fail to pick up a bonus point.
“It will be all about us performing in Tokyo and not about how others are playing,” said Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees. “Our problem so far has been that we are underachieving in terms of ball retention. As far as defence goes, I’m happy. We have conceded only two tries so far this season.”
One of those tries was an intercept try which earned the Arabian Gulf a 16-9 victory that put paid to Hong Kong’s plans of going to Tokyo with the runner-up slot secured.
Hong Kong defeated South Korea 32-8 in their opening game and defeated Kazakhstan 19-15 two weeks ago. Both wins came at home.
“If someone at the beginning of the tournament had said you would beat South Korea and Kazakhstan and you would be disappointed, I wouldn’t have believed him,” Rees said after Hong Kong’s win over Kazakhstan.
Hong Kong have made a number of changes to that side due to injury and the absence of veteran forward Nigel Clarke who will be getting married in England on Saturday.
In the front row, an injury in training to tighthead prop Nigel Hobler has resulted in youngster Alex Ng Wai-shing being drafted into the hot seat. James Stokes comes in at lock to replace Clarke while in the backrow Kwok Ka-chun will replace the injured Nick Hewson at blindside.
Up-and-coming youngster Kenneth Hsieh Chun-hang will win his first cap and start at scrum-half with regular Tim Alexander on the bench. Alexander has been in the wars, and Rees wants to give him as much time as possible to recover. The rest of the backline will be the same, but on the bench, there will be a few new faces including flanker Renaud Chavanis, centre Tsang Hing-hung and winger Adam Raby who gets his first opportunity this season.
Japanese counterpart Kirwan will have the luxury of selecting from a full squad. He has given every player in an extended squad a run this season, and is happy with what he has seen so far.
“When we get over the advantage line early and get quick ball we are pretty hard to stop,” Kirwan said.
This will be the worry for Hong Kong as they bid to clinch second spot in the Top Five.
But Hong Kong isn’t the only team with worries heading into the final week’s action. In Incheon, a disappointed Korea team will be throwing everything into a last-ditch effort to repel visiting Kazakhstan and avoid what would have been unthinkable just four weeks ago – relegation to next year’s Division I championship.
Kazakhstan meanwhile face a conundrum: how to approach the match against Korea where a bonus point will see them off to Uruguay for the RWC repechage while a loss and conceding a bonus point will see them relegated to Division I.
The game is “win or die” according to Kazakhstan captain and No. 8 Timur Mashurov, “Korea will fight for every ball, for every cm of the pitch”.
Fortunately for the hosts, Korea have star lock You Young Nam back after his four-week match ban was reduced to three weeks on appeal. You was named the top player in his position in Japan’s professional Top League last season. You’s appearance could be decisive in a match that is likely to be won or lost up front.
Kazakhstan coach Evgeniy Zuev’s objective is for his side “to play more with the ball. We need to get more share of the ball from scrums and lineouts than we have so far in the competition. But most importantly in the last week of the A5N I want the team to demonstrate what they can do and show how people from Kazakhstan can play rugby.”
Kazakhstan will be relying on Mashurov and star flanker Anton Rudoy this weekend in what promises to be a tense encounter in Incheon.
“It is still too far to qualify for World Cup even if we get second place there is a long process for us to navigate. But as for relegation, it is just behind the corner”, added captain Mashurov, indicating the focus for this weekend in Incheon is firmly on retaining a spot in Asia’s top tier rugby competition, the HSBC Asian 5 Nations.
Starting Line-ups:
Japan:
1. Hirashima, Hisateru 2. Horie, Shota 3. Nakamura, Shinsuke 4. Ono ©, Hitoshi 5. Thompson, Luke 6. Toyota, Masakazu 7. Taufa, Touetsu 8. Holani, Ryukoliniaishi 9. Tanaka, Fumiaki 10. Webb, Shaun 11. Endo, Kosuke 12. Nicholas, Ryan 13. Taira, Koji 14. Tupuailei Alisi 15. Tachikawa, Goshi 16. Yuhara, Hiroki 17. Kawamata, Naoki 18. Toshizumi Kitagawa 19. Leitch, Michael 20. Yoshida, Tomoki 21. Arlidge, James 22. Matsushita Kaoru
Hong Kong
1. Spizziri, Peter 2. Abel, Jon 3. NG, Alex Wai Shing, 4. Stokes, James 5. French, Charles 6. Kwok, Ka Chun 7. Wright, Mark 8. Leung, Simon Ho Yam © 9. Hsieh, Chun-Hang Kenneth 10. Robertson, Keith 11. McQueen, Alex 12. Hempel, Simon 13. Varty, Rowan 14. Yiu, Salom Kam Shing 15. Bisley, Colin 16. Baddeley, Alex 17. Bennett, Jack 18. Chavanis, Renaud 19. Hussey, Rory 20. Alexander, Tim 21. Tsang, Hing Hung 22. Raby, Adam
