Through four unbeaten pool-stage matches, Japan demonstrated that it deserves to be ranked among the world's top eight rugby nations by beating traditional European powerhouses Ireland, ranked first in the world heading into the tournament, and Scotland. The Brave Blossoms raised their world ranking from 10th before the start of the World Cup to seventh after beating Scotland on Sunday.
Japan will play two-time world champion South Africa in the quarterfinals at Tokyo Stadium on next Sunday, aiming for a repeat of the "giant killing" from the 2015 RWC, when the Brave Blossoms defeated the Springboks in a pool match in England.
The "Miracle of Brighton," as it was called, was an upset by a Tier 2 nation versus a Tier 1 nation. Besides South Africa, the other Tier 1 nations are New Zealand, Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, France, Scotland, Argentina and Italy.
At this World Cup, however, the upsets in which Japan defeated Ireland and Scotland were not a "miracle" nor a "fluke."
After the match against Ireland, Japan wing Kenki Fukuoka, who scored a try, posted a message in Japanese on Twitter saying, "It's never a miracle. Although I came on the pitch midway through the match, I could score a good try because all team members displayed their best performances."
Yoshihito Yoshida, 50, a former Japan national team wing during the 1991 and 1995 World Cups, told The Yomiuri Shimbun: "In the previous World Cup, South Africa might have been off its guard. But this time, Japan beat Ireland, which had made careful preparation for that match. It's all Japan's genuine ability."
Brave Blossoms head coach Jamie Joseph has over the years improved the precision of his strategy to intentionally create what has been called "organized chaos" featuring "unstructured" situations, and to pair that with effective kicking. This is as opposed to structured situations such as set pieces, which include scrums and lineouts. At a press conference to announce the 31-member Japanese national team squad on Aug. 29, he stressed the importance of unstructured situations.
However, in the matches against Ireland and Scotland, Japan seemed as if it was keeping the organized chaos strategy under wraps, instead sticking to possession rugby. Retaining the ball for a longer time with many passes to find attack gaps in the opponent's defense line was adopted by Japan during the 2015 RWC under then head coach Eddie Jones, who is now in charge of England.
This means that Japan has developed into a capable, high-level team that can take a different approach depending on the opponent and situation.
The Brave Blossoms' historical achievements during this tournament are grounded on their intense training sessions from early morning until late at night. The practice had been established under Eddie Jones to prepare for the 2015 event, to train not only their physicality but also their fitness necessary for each match. It would be impossible for other teams to carry out such long and intense training sessions for several reasons, such as having national team members playing overseas.
Nick Evans, a former All Black and flyhalf, is a rugby critic who writes a column in The Guardian. He played with Japan's assistant coach Tony Brown on the Highlanders in New Zealand. In the 2015 season, the Highlanders won the Super Rugby title under the leadership of Joseph, with Brown the assistant.
In his column dated Sept. 29 titled "Japan's variety of play and superior fitness central to stunning Ireland," Evans mentioned that Joseph knows Japan cannot win by physicality and they maximize their quick-footed, explosive players insted.
"Tony has an ability to give players the confidence to play what they see, the courage to act on the pictures that are good, whether that's run pictures, kick pictures or offload pictures. It can look effortless on the pitch but so much work goes into perfecting it in training. I'm sure they make a lot of mistakes in training and it makes you want to pull your hair out but you see that when it transfers into games it cause opponents a lot of problems."
Japan's opponent in the quarterfinals, the Springboks, have been described as giants of the rugby world alongside the All Blacks. These two teams tend to overwhelm opponents in test matches.
South Africa has made thorough preparations for this World Cup. The Springboks arrived in Japan in late August, the earliest among the 19 visiting teams, and beat Japan 41-7 in a warm-up at Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Sept. 6. They showed no complacency in the warm-up against Japan, unlike that pool match at the 2015 World Cup.
While South Africa lost their first pool match at this World Cup to New Zealand 23-13, the Springboks have been gradually getting into top gear.
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus said on Sept. 28 that Japan was a "scary" proposition after the host's staggering upset of Ireland put them on a collision course with Springboks in the quarterfinals.
"I always knew that Japan was a realistic contender for going through to the quarterfinals," Erasmus said, mentioning the option of facing Japan should the Brave Blossoms finish atop their group. "It's almost a bit of a scary option," Erasmus told AFP.
At a press conference on Monday, Japan captain Michael Leitch, said: "We want to beat [South Africa] and aim for a next stage. We'll create a new history for Japan."
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