The Rugby Roundtable

The Junior World Cup reached the third round of pool matches Saturday, with The Tokyo Gaijin making it to the Tokyo matches: England vs. Samoa and Japan vs. Scotland. The weather was sweltering and surely conditions that few of the English or Scots have ever played in before let alone seen. 30 degrees or so with a haze and reasonable humidity level to make it a rough day for anyone trying to chase a pig-skin around a park. Better to be in the stand with cool refreshments.

First up England-Samoa. An absolute thumping. 57-7. Samoa made mistake after mistake with their poor handling, disorganized backline and utter lack of passion. England on the other hand were clinical and really look the goods to go all the way in this tournament. Up 40 points or so in the second half the English earned the ire of our crew by taking a penalty kick but they probably had instructions to. Samoa only had the one player to stand out, once again: Auvasa Falealii. This boy from Marist has a great all round game and as he matures he will no doubt end up in the Auckland Blues or Samoan national squad with his super strong running, pace, ability to fend and offload; as well as put in a few nice chips when necessary. His tackling was solid and he is one to watch.

England who are now off to the Semi-Finals, have a boat load of “ones to watch” but considering that the entire squad are paid professionals none really jump out as super stars of the future. Maybe Stupid Hair Man (who had a haircut and now looked respectable to our panel) Thomas Homer at Fullback (London Irish), Bob Baker at tight head (Wasps), Roid Man #1 Courtney Lawes (Saints) or Carl Fearns at Number 8 (Sale) are the ones we pick to go on to higher honours sooner than the others, at least based on fairly easy pool play.

On to Japan-Scotland. This one was expected to be close but it was Scotland who took the upper hand early on and dominated possession. Japan showed their intent immediately and tried to run the ball and run the big Scots off their feet – a tactic we thought worthy considering the heat and what would be expected if it was kept up for 60 minutes or so. Scotland put in some great defence and looked to be well improved compared to earlier rounds in this respect and forced a huge number of knock on’s by the local team. Scotland struggled on attack though against an equally committed Japanese side tackling the big fella’s around their ankles. The Japanese Captain Ryuhei Arita was on the blind side and had a huge game tackling all day and always being in support – this guy is surely a key to Japan’s rugby ambitions as he played hooker in other matches and can play anywhere in the back row.

The game had a few kicking duels and both sides showed good skills here, though probably Scotland had the edge through fullback Peter Horne who got more distance on difficult kicks. Scotland managed to pick up their first try through a good strong run by winger Chris Anderson and then a second try a few minutes later from Number 8 Stuart McInally who broke the line and offloaded nicely to his open-side flanker Chris Fusaro to go in under the posts. They went into the break surely very conscious of the toll the heat would take in the second half.

That second half indeed started with a hiss and a roar by Japan who, after having little possession and worse territory through the first half, suddenly were hot on attack looking to get back into the game. A well worked try by their backs saw the deficit close to 7-12 but it was not enough. Scotland managed to hold on in the heat for a ragged win over the determined school boys who got themselves the wooden spoon and head off to play Italy for the 13^th place play off.

Other comments of the day:

New Zealand don’t look the goods to win this Junior World Cup. They struggled against Ireland the other day and took far too long to clean up the Argies. No disrespect to the South Americans, but the Kiwi’s do not look anywhere near the strength they were last year. According to our man who saw the Ireland game, the Kiwi’s are rubbish around the rucks with no-one showing any real steel at all. They won this one through a big second half and probably some scorching words from their coach – but the yellow card to one of the Argentineans surely helped them find their feet. Final score 48-9. To the Kiwi’s: on to the Semi-Finals with ye.

Ireland beat Uruguay 45-nil. Ireland put in a big one against the Kiwi’s (losing 17-nil) and got to unleash some frustration on the South Americans. We’ll see Ireland against Wales in the 5^th place Semi’s.

South Africa scraped past a determined France. The Sarfies looked the goods to beat down a French team 43-27. France apparently had a rip snorter of a first 20-30 minutes before the Bokke Boys remembered what they were there for and earned their place in the Semi-Finals. France on the other hand head off to play Samoa where they should have the goods to take on the winner of Ireland-Wales for the 5^th place play off.

Australia smashed last year’s Semi-Finalist and rained-soaked home side Wales 38-5. The young Aussie backs – a line-up that includes future Wallabies such as Kurtley Beale and Richard Kingi – demolished the Welshmen on burning hot day down in the South of Japan. The weather was more akin to Queensland in early summer than Cardiff in the winter rain. Even up front the Welshmen fell short of their duties and were crushed by an Aussie team that could well beat those Baby Blacks from New Zealand in the Semi’s.

Canada 20 – Tonga 36. As expected Canada get the wooden spoon for Pool D and really have a long way to go. How will they fare against the likes of Uruguay for the 13^th place play off?

Fiji 20 – Italy 14. Fiji go on to play Scotland in the 9^th place play off, while Italy take their wooden spoon to play Japan.

That’s about it. As we expected the Semi’s include the following tasty match ups: Australia-New Zealand; England-South Africa. Too tough to pick with any certainty but we will make the wager that the Kiwi’s will fall. Which captain will hold the trophy aloft next weekend? An Aussie? A Pom? Or a Bok?

Yours,

The Tokyo Gaijin