Jamie Joseph says free-spirited Japan can trouble England at World Cup
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Japan's head coach Jamie Joseph is hoping his team can reach the World Cup knock-out round for a second straight tournament.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – Japan head coach Jamie Joseph believes his team’s “unorthodox” style can make life difficult for England at the Rugby World Cup, saying that “we can achieve anything”.
The Brave Blossoms’ free-flowing play took them to the quarter-finals on home soil four years ago and they have been drawn with England, Argentina, Samoa and Chile in Pool D for the 2023 tournament in France.
Joseph said that England “have suffered a little bit” since replacing coach Eddie Jones with Steve Borthwick in December, following a dismal run of results.
The New Zealander, who has a contract until the end of the World Cup, hopes Japan’s high-octane style can flummox England when they meet in Nice in September.
“We have a really attacking-based game using our fitness, skill, speed and a little bit unorthodox compared to the teams that we’re playing against,” he said.
“We know what England are going to bring, we know what Argentina are going to bring.
“They’re going to put us under a lot of pressure, but we create pressure in different ways.”
Joseph said England “lost momentum” when they axed “master planner” Jones, who took them to the 2019 World Cup final before losing to South Africa.
Borthwick oversaw a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Six Nations in his first games in charge, losing to Scotland and Ireland before suffering a record-breaking 53-10 defeat by France at Twickenham.
But Joseph believes England will be a different team by the time the World Cup comes around.
“The team has suffered a little bit but they will be better because of that,” he said.
“The fact that they struggled a little bit in the Six Nations was only going to happen because it takes time for teams to build under a new coaching regime.
“A year on, they would have learnt a lot.”
Japan’s players react after scoring during the match against France in July 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
Joseph is hoping his team can reach the World Cup knock-out phase for a second straight tournament, after beating Ireland and Scotland on the way to the quarter-finals in 2019 when they were driven on by fervent home support as the first Asian country to host the World Cup. AFP
