By Brendan O’Brien
There can’t be many phrases as condescending in sport as ‘Tier 2’.
There, in the space of just two words, is all you need to know about rugby’s stratified priorities. Forget the fact that Japan entered this World Cup ranked higher than Scotland, they still started last weekend’s Pool A encounter with them as underdogs in many eyes.
Few things are harder to change than perception.
When this tournament ends and the world continues turning, Japan will be left starved of elite opposition, marooned in a no-man’s land identical to the one that Argentina inhabited and which, for so long, inhibited their progress towards the game’s summit.
But, win or lose against South Africa in this Sunday’s quarter-final, there is a belief in the Japan dressing-room that they have utterly discredited the idea that they are in any way inferior. Tier 2? Kazuki Himeno isn’t accepting that.
“We are playing good rugby and we are confident about our game,” said the flanker who has proven a nuisance to opponents at the breakdown. “We have played very well against Ireland and Scotland so we can say that we have smashed that notion.
“I have been showing that the Japanese can play well,” he added when asked about his own displays. “I have played four 80 minutes and I have been able to show my positives. I hope that everyone understands now that the Japanese can play good rugby.”
That they do but there are still chasms separating the likes of Japan from the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides. Japan may be the world’s third biggest economy with a well-backed club rugby scene but the Brave Blossoms are poor relations compared to the game’s traditional giants.
Reports prior to the tournament claimed that England’s players would receive a bonus of €288,000 per man if they were to win the tournament. That is by far and away the biggest of the monetary incentives on offer, as would be expected for the game’s financial powerhouse.
The All Blacks are believed to be on €85,000 a player if they can claim a third straight title with Australia not far behind. The IRFU have been coy about their bonus schemes in the past but the suggested figure for the 2015 World Cup was in the region of €100,000 each.
No-one can state with any certainty what financial terms the Japanese players play under. The Japan Rugby Union is famously secretive about any such issues. Those close to the game here can’t even say if they continue to be paid by their corporate-backed clubs while on national duty of if the union picks up the tab.
One figure that has done the rounds here is that the Japan players are earning just $100 per day (roughly €90) throughout the World Cup. It’s a figure that is not all that much more than the reported $500 per week that the Fijian squad was said to be receiving for their World Cup service.
“If you want to live a life then you do need money,” said the prop Keita Inagaki when asked if the amount was accurate. “That is a fact but we are not playing for money. The monetary part is not something that we can control so I am not worrying about it. Why are we playing for the Japan team? We have to understand why we are playing here.”
These players understand that this is bigger than them. About more than yen or dollars.
The scrum-half Fumiaki Tanaka spoke yesterday about the many emails and messages the team has received from people thanking them for what they are doing on the pitch and how they are lifting a country that has been hit so hard by Typhoon Hagibis.
The captain Michael Leitch has been reinforcing this message to the team, they are playing to benefit the country as a whole. Defence coach Scott Hansen explained what a privilege it has been for the players and staff to inspire the younger generation with their words and actions.
And they aren’t done yet.
“We feel that, on our day, our game has the ability to beat anyone in the world,” said Hansen.
Horie talked about how Japan want to play a game that moves spectators. They have done that and more in their defeats of Ireland and Scotland and their success in being the first – that phrase again – Tier 2 side to top a World Cup pool.
The stage could hardly be set any better for Sunday. Clips from their defeat of the Springboks in Brighton four years ago will no doubt proliferate on Japanese TV this week but the 41-7 loss to the South Africans prior to the World Cup will serve as a counter balance to any giddiness.
This is new ground for them but their approach hasn’t changed.
“We are not too overwhelmed or excited about it just because we are in the knockout stage,” said Horie. “We don’t want to focus on it because it is special. We have to be aggressive as well as calm and that is a difficult balance to strike. We are not satisfied with what we have done so far.”
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