Jones upbeat despite loss to World XV

TOKYO (Aug. 16) – Japan coach Eddie Jones remained hopeful his side were still on course for a good showing at the Rugby World Cup despite falling to their fourth straight loss on Saturday.

The Brave Blossoms were beaten 45-20 by a World XV at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, but Jones remained upbeat despite the result.

“The result was disappointing but in terms of our World Cup preparation the game was excellent,” he said. “We saw at the Pacific Nations Cup that we had a problem with our discipline in defence and that was evident today and we again had a problem at the breakdown. Those are the two main areas we need to fix.”

“We weren’t as precise as we wanted to be and were giving away silly penalties. And some of that was done due to the pressure of the situation.”

Jones pointed to the recent Bledisloe Cup games as proof it was possible to rectify things in a short time.

“We’re not far away,” said Jones. “It seems like we’re a long way away, but we’re not far away. You see what happens in test rugby. Two weeks ago, Australia beats New Zealand convincingly. Today, New Zealand puts 40 points on them. “How do you work that out? How can you change that much in two weeks? You can change. Our job is to make sure the players keep believing that. If we do that, we’ll go to the World Cup and we will change Japan’s rugby history.”

Panasonic Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans, who was in charge of the World XV, also thought Japan could still come away from the World Cup with a couple of wins.

“To compete against South Africa they will need to get everything right but I think they are looking beyond to Samoa, Scotland and the U.S. and I think they are very able and capable of winning those games,” he said.