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Japan: 'Execute or be executed'
Canada take on Japan, their oldest international rival, in a clash that sees both teams looking to dispose of their winless run in the 2007 Rugby World Cup at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux on Tuesday.
It is a rugby connection that goes back to 1929 when the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was first formed.
The year after Japan's inauguration, in 1930, the newly formed Canadian Rugby Union invited the Cherry Blossoms to tour British Columbia. It was on this tour that the red and white hooped jersey and cherry blossom emblem were adopted as the symbols of the national Japan rugby team.
The visitors played five games, winning four and tying the British Columbia (BC) provincial team 3-3 in their final match. Japan considers that game to be their first international match against the Canucks because they considered the BC team to be the virtual Canada side.
However, the first full country versus country Test match for Japan was also against Canada when the Canadians toured Japan in 1932 for Tests in Osaka and Tokyo. Japan won both matches.
Now, nearly eighty years later, the two teams will play each other for the first time at a Rugby World Cup - both teams desperate to record their first win in the 2007 tournament.
This is the final game at the World Cup for Japan after three losses on the trot. Japan lost 3-91 fielding their second-string side against Australia in Lyon, then went down 31-35 to Fiji in a Toulouse thriller followed by an 18-72 loss to Wales in Cardiff.
Japan coach John Kirwan - who guided Italy to a 19-14 win over Canada in Canberra at the last World Cup - has one final throw of the dice as his team look to end their brave campaign on a high.
Looking at the records, however, reveals that Japan have only won one out of sixteen World Cup games - a 52-8 thrashing over Zimbabwe in 1991.
And despite Japan holding a 9-8 advantage in head to heads between the two countries, Kirwan rates Canada as the favourites in this crucial encounter for both sides.
"They're definitely the favourites, they're a good side, quarter-finalists in 1991, I played against them actually," said Kirwan.
"They've got a proud history, they're big guys and know how to play rugby. We're definitely the underdogs and that's fine, we're happy with that title."
Canada are in practically the same position as Japan, having lost their first two games to Wales (42-17) and Fiji (29-16), and with little hope of beating Australia, this is also their best chance of maintaining their record of having always come away from a World Cup with at least one victory.
"The players have a lot of pride and they know that in the record books Canada has come away with at least one victory from every World Cup," said coach Ric Suggitt.
"So they're well aware of that but we don't want to put any external pressure on them and say you have to win the game because we don't want to be the only team that goes away 0-4.
"We were quite unfortunate not to win the last game (Fiji) and I felt the first game (Wales) slipped away from us."
For Canada and Japan, it's quite simple. This is a must-win game with the winner saving some pride with a lone win at the World Cup, while the loser will take the dreaded Pool B wooden spoon.
It's for this reason that Suggitt has moved to counter Japan's pace threat by shuffling his forward pack, elevating Colin Yukes and Aaron Carpenter from the bench and giving flanker Adam Kleeberger his first Rugby World Cup start.
"We realise they are very quick and play with a lot of tempo in the game and we have some fresh legs in the back row, putting Carpenter back there and Kleeburger and Yukes," Suggitt said.
"Hopefully we can take away some of their strength.''
With Suggitt also keeping the same tight five that played against Fiji in Cardiff last week, we can expect a titanic battle up front with Japan showing real class in that department.
Japan have also showed that they are not afraid to put in the big hits and we can expect a very physical encounter between these two sides looking to outmuscle, outwit and outrun each other.
But that task has been made much harder by a number of injuries to the Cherry Blossoms, with flanker Yasunori Watanabe the latest in a string of casualties to leave the squad.
Watanabe joins the previous losses of captain Takamichi Sasaki after the Australia game, scrum-half Yuki Yatomi after the Fiji game and fly-half Eiji Ando and winger Daisuke Ohata after a warm-up match against Portugal.
Japan have been the hardest hit with injuries in this Rugby World Cup, but as Kirwan has said throughout, it's part and parcel of the game.
The Cherry Blossoms have shown tremendous courage and spirit to pick themselves up and play to their best ability against some quality opposition. They have shown they can tackle, they have shown they can kick and they have definitely shown they can score tries.
Despite all this, Kirwan has said that if his team were to emerge victors on the day, it would be a result of sound execution.
"We know what we have to do. We need to execute well and that is important. It is important that we execute. I think we have to finish what we start," said the All Black legend.
"Execute or be executed."
Ones to Watch:
For Canada: Australian-born wing James Pritchard will look to make the most of the opportunities that comes his way, just as he did against the Fijians. He was voted our man of the match, not often a player from a losing team gets selected in that particular category. But his deadly boot kept his team in the game and matched the Fijians with strong bursts up both touchlines. Which just goes to show he's not afraid to look for work. Exceptionally strong on his feet, Pritchard will look to go one better against his opposite number Kosuke Endo - who finished off what was arguably the try of the tournament against Wales.
For Japan: Inside centre and kicking sensation Shotaro Onishi will need to keep up his bulls-eye aim if the game resorts to penalties - which seems highly likely. His distribution skills getting the ball to Japan's speedy wings will be key if his team wish to take the Canadians on out wide. Onishi was stretchered off in the second half against Wales, but has been deemed fit to play against Canada - much to the dismay of the Canucks.
Head to head: Ryan Smith (Canada) v Bryce Robins (Japan). Once again the battle of the fly-halves will be crucial for both teams on attack and defence. New Zealand-born Robins had a shocker against Wales and was exploited by Stephen Jones as the Welshman continued to break the Japan defence through the fly-half channel. Smith likes to have a run and will be targeting to do the same, just like he did against Nicky Little by scoring a try past the Fiji veteran in Cardiff. Both sides will be looking to their pivots to play the territorial game, which will be paramount for this do-or-die encounter. Saying that, Canada and Japan will also hope critical possession is not given away by needless kicks by the men with the number ten on their back. if we are to see any form of a running game on Tuesday, it's up to these two to make sure that happens.
Previous results:
2005: Canada won 15-10 in Tokyo
2004: Japan won 34-21 in Tokyo
2001: Japan won 39-7 in Tokyo
2000: Canada won 62-18 in Toronto
1999: Japan won 23-21 in Tokyo
1998: Canada won 34-25 in Vancouver
1998: Canada won 30-22 in Tokyo
1997: Canada won 42-18 in Vancouver
1997: Japan won 32-31 in Tokyo
1996: Canada won 51-30 in Vancouver
1996: Canada won 45-18 in Tokyo
1991: Canada won 49-26 in Vancouver
1986: Japan won 26-21 in Vancouver
1982: Japan won 16-6 in Tokyo
1982: Japan won 24-18 in Osaka
1932: Japan won 38-5 in Tokyo
1932: Japan won 9-8 in Osaka
Prediction: The encounters between Canada and Japan have mostly been close fought tussles and that doesn't look to be any different come kick-off, with both sides playing some enterprising rugby against better opposition in the tournament. Canada are ranked closest to the Cherry Blossoms when compared with other Pool B opposition, so this is shaping up as the best possible chance for a win for Japan. However, both teams are reasonably familiar with each other and so it is going to be a match up that could go either way. But, after a heated discussion, we have decided to stick out our necks and go with Canada on this occasion. It seems the Japanese may have to wait another four years for that second win at a World Cup. Canada to scrape home by six points.
The teams:
Canada: 15 Mike Pyke, 14 Dth van der Merwe, 13 Craig Culpan, 12 Dave Spicer, 11 James Pritchard, 10 Ryan Smith, 9 Morgan Williams (c), 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Colin Yukes, 5 Mike James, 4 Mike Burak, 3 Jon Thiel, 2 Pat Riordan, 1 Rod Snow
Replacements: 16 Mike Pletch, 17 Dan Pletch, 18 Scott Franklin, 19 Josh Jackson, 20 Mike Webb, 21 Ed Fairhurst, 22 Justin Mensah-Coker
Japan: 15 Go Aruga, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Yuta Imamura, 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Christian Loamanu, 10 Bryce Robins, 9 Tomoki Yoshida, 8 Takuro Miuchi (c), 7 Philip O'Reilly, 6 Hare Makiri, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Tomokazu Soma, 2 Yuji Matsubara, 1 Tatsukichi Nishiura
Replacements: 16 Taku Inokuchi, 17 Ryo Yamamura, 18 Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, 19 Hajime Kiso, 20 Chulwon Kim, 21 Koji Taira, 22 Hirotoki Onozawa.
Date: Tuesday 25 September
Venue: Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
Kick-off: 18:00 (17:00 BST, 16:00 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray, Bryce Lawrence
Television match official: Joël Jutge
By Dave Morris
