Michael Leitch says his history-making Japan team will not settle for simply making the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time, as they eye up a second famous victory over the Springboks this weekend.
The skipper said he had been unable to sleep after his team’s sensational 28-21 victory over Scotland on Sunday, which knocked Gregor Townsend’s team out of the tournament and secured a perfect pool record for the hosts.
The 31-year-old said a conversation with Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, the captain of Japan’s football team when they hosted the 2002 World Cup, would help keep his team’s feet on the ground.
“Looking back, since 2011 this team has grown so much it’s scary,” he said. “The goal’s not [achieved], we’ve got South Africa next, so we’re going to prepare to beat them. It’s going to be a really tough match but we’ve prepared for this, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I had an opportunity to speak to the captain of the Japan football team [from 2002] and what he said was they thought they’ve achieved their goals after clinching [a place in] the last-16 and were celebrating at the start of the next week. That’s an important point. We’ve now made history but what’s ahead of us is important. This is not the goal — winning the next game is the goal. Win the next, then the next. Winning the game in front of us is important.”
Flanker Leitch believes that rugby in Japan will feel the force of his team’s achievements in years to come.
“The kids are watching the games and there’ll be young people who want to be Japan internationals,” he said. “With more kids like that, the national team will naturally get stronger. The number of top League players who want to become internationals also went up. The competition will be more fierce because of that. It’ll get stronger and stronger.”
