For all the gallantry and surprising stamina of Russia, this was the most underwhelming of openings to a World Cup. There was an air of before the Lord Mayor’s show. It explained why this weekend contains two top group billings, starting with the holders, New Zealand, against South Africa, when the tournament will really start.
Japan, used to lurking in the shadows of the game, struggled in the glare of the headlights, losing sight of their strengths to the point where they aimlessly kicked away turnover ball, but it was a night when only the result mattered to the hosts and their supporters. It ensures that, however they get on against Ireland next Saturday, they should still have the quarter-finals in their sights come their final group match against Scotland.
If the quality of the rugby was not likely to be a sign of things to come, although both sets of players had difficulty holding on to the ball which was greased by the humidity, the way it was refereed was. Nigel Owens awarded only three penalties in the first half, two for defenders not rolling away after a tackle, a number he soon doubled after the restart.
The emphasis will be on ensuring teams are allowed to generate quick ball at the breakdown. Russia, considering their lack of exposure to fast-flowing rugby, did remarkably well to stay in the contest for so long. Japan’s final try was down to their opponents’ weariness and, but for two bungled half-chances, Russia, with their indefatigable flanker Tagir Gadzhiev perpetually involved, the nerves of the home side would have become even more frayed.
At the start of the week, the tournament organisers decreed that television match officials would only become involved when absolutely necessary, which in translation means the more confident and assertive a referee, the less assistance will be called for. They do not come any more experienced than Owens but, even with the official who controlled the 2015 final in charge, a system designed to bring clarity too often confuses.
The Japan wing Kotaro Matsushima was denied one try in the first half after Owens initially awarded it and then asked for the grounding to be checked. The organisers had talked earlier in the week about the TMO having multiple camera angles, but the crowd was only shown one. The decision went against the hosts even though the control at the point the ball touched the ground looked the same as that applied by Gareth Anscombe for Wales at Twickenham last year.
The TMO ruled out that score only to be sacked after World Rugby said he had made the wrong call. Matsushima was in possession while Anscombe was reaching out for a bouncing ball, but both decisions were so close they could have gone the other way.
There was nothing clear about either of them, nor why the try Matsushima was awarded two minutes before the interval was not checked because the pass to him from Ryoto Nakamura out of the back of his hand looked marginally forward. How long before rugby nods to cricket and adopts “referee’s call”?
The officials initially policed the offside line behind, mainly through the touch judges who would position themselves to signal where defenders should stand, but it did not last, not least because the headless, frenetic nature of the game did not lend itself to carrying out plans to the full. The sport is now measured in terms of movement and ball-in-play time: there were 40 set-pieces on the night, but with no scrum resets and few lineouts burning up much time, the only respite for players was when someone was injured or scored.
The emphasis here will be on entertainment because rugby union to most is a foreign language. Most of the crowd were adorned in the host nation’s jersey, which at the stadium was selling quickly before the game despite costing more than £100, but there was little chance of them being given a lesson in the game’s long law book, even though it is gradually becoming less complicated and far less arcane.
A report here this week revealed that 65% of the population had no perception of rugby before advertising for the tournament started in earnest. The Japan Times has led on sumo all week, although it did publish a World Cup supplement. The danger for a sport pushing for new markets is that traditional support melts away, but this night was about the new audience, even if what is to come will be mostly about the old.
