Japan showed signs of improvement, says Jones

TOKYO (May 3) – Japan coach Eddie Jones admitted that Sunday’s 41-0 win over Hong Kong hadn’t been a great performance from his team, but he said he was happy with the mindset of the team.

“We got a bit more rust out of us and I am pretty happy with the intent with which we played but it was still marred by some individual errors,” he said after the game at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.

“I said two weeks ago (after beating South Korea) we were at 20 percent. We are now at 21 percent. But that’s a positive. If we improve by one percent every day from now on we will be at 100 percent come Sept. 19,” when Japan play South Africa in their Rugby World Cup opener.

Despite the ideal conditions, Japan struggled to put together more than a few phases.

“We were trying some different things and while we certainly didn’t achieve everything we wanted it was a step in the right direction,” Jones said.

Jones praised the efforts of Akihito Yamada, who scored two tries, and Yoshikazu Fujita, who also touched down, but admitted overall the team’s handling had let them down.

“They must have picked up some hand disease in England,” he joked, referring to the squad’s short tour last week to two of their Rugby World Cup training bases.

On top of that the team had also had “the hardest week of training we’ve had.”

“We are a long way from where we need to be,” he said. “But we’ve taken a step forward. Probably not a big one but a good step.”