Japan look to finish in style

TOKYO (June 22) – Japan hope to finish a busy spring test-match campaign in style Sunday when they take on the United States in the IRB Pacific Nations Cup.

“We have worked really hard on our set piece. That was one of our goals,” head coach Eddie Jones said after his side’s final training run at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground on Saturday.  “So we want to scrum well tomorrow and line-out well. We also want to be really fluid in attack. We did so in spurts in the second half against Wales and Canada but we want to really put together a good 80 minutes of rugby.”

Vice captain Takashi Kikutani admitted it had been a long and tiring campaign but said he was looking forward to the game.

“We need to control  things tomorrow,” he said. “They will be a physical team so we need to put them under pressure.”

Jones was forced to make a late change when Kenki Fukuoka failed a fitness test. The young wing will be replaced by teenager Yoshikazu Fujita with Yuta Imamura moving up to the bench.

“Fukuoka’s big asset is his speed and we just couldn’t risk him,” said Jones.

Jones had earlier said it would have been easy to rest players, either on Wednesday or Sunday, but he wanted players to understand how important it was to represent their country.

“I don’t want to give caps away. Players have to earn them,” he said. “The great thing is the attitude of the players. They really want to play for each other, they’ve worked really hard and they don’t want to lose their spot to someone else.”

The Japan U.S. game kicks off at 2.10 pm. The two sides have met 19 times to date with Japan winning just six games in addition to a 9-9 draw in 1986.

The first game of the doubleheader sees Fiji take on Tonga. The winner of that game will win the PNC title, though a low-scoring draw would see Canada crowned champions.