Jones pleased with final win in Japan

TOKYO (Aug. 30) – Japan coach Eddie Jones was a happy man  Saturday following his final game in charge of the Brave Blossoms in Japan.

Having seen his team beat Uruguay 40-0 at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Jones praised his team saying, “We have just beaten a team that have qualified for the World Cup by 40 points. Of course we need to get better, but our scrum was good, our line out was effective and we kept them to zero.”

He was particularly pleased with the second half effort as Japan finally showed their trademark high-tempo game.

“We were probably a little too conservative in the first half. We have to take risks to win matches at the World Cup and we were better in the second half,” he said.

It was a view shared by Japan captain Michael Leitch.

“During this week, the players really got a sense of their own responsibility. “We were able to concentrate on what we needed to do to win this match and what we need to do to win at the World Cup,” he said.

“We still need to show more aggression rather than technique at the breakdown and to do that we need a different mentality. Hopefully next week’s game against Georgia will put us in a good frame of mind.”

Jones will name his 31-man Rugby World Squad on Monday, a day before the team flies to England.

They then take on Georgia in their final warm-up game on Sept. 5 in Gloucester.

As to the make-up of his squad, Jones said the return to fitness of Shinya Makabe (who made a brief cameo at Chichibunomiya) and Amanaki Lelei Mafi (who played 40 minutes for NTT Communications Shining Arcs in the morning) was the icing on the cake.

“We were done three months ago,” he said when asked if he had decided on the 31 players. “The only problem was if Naki and Makabe didn’t come through. Having those two big powerful players really adds depth to our squad.”