Jones gives end of year report

TOKYO (Dec. 8) – Japan coach Eddie Jones gave his end-of-year report Monday saying it had been a good year for Japanese rugby but there was still plenty of work to do ahead of Rugby World Cup 2015.

“We played 10 tests and won nine, introduced nine new players and reintroduced two players into the Japan side,” he said at Japan Rugby Football Union headquarters.

“We went on the end of season tour missing eight regular players and ended up losing the last test against Georgia missing nine regular players. So in the process of the year we learnt a lot. But as we all know it is the Rugby World Cup that judges everyone’s performance.

Despite the victories, which at one stage saw Japan rise as high as ninth in the world rankings, Jones said the tight five still wasn’t strong enough, even accounting for the huge advances they have made, and that the players were still not quick enough.

And he said the main thing the team has to learn is how to become tactically more flexible.

“We need to react to situations on the field and make adjustments to the way we play not only in the set piece but in our attack and defence.”

Jones said the players were not the greatest problem solvers and “it is our job as coaches to make them better problem solvers.”

As far as the year ahead was concerned, Jones said there would be changes made in the way the team trained to “make it more cohesive to the way we want to play.”

“Our first two games at the World Cup (South Africa and Scotland) are against very structured sides so we are not going to beat them playing a structured game. Our next two opponents (Samoa and the United States) are not as structured so we can get an advantage by playing a more structured game.”

Jones admitted that it would be difficult for anyone who hasn’t played or trained with the national squad over the last three years to break into the squad but added “never say never.”

“If we are to achieve our goal of getting into the top eight we are going to need a great commitment from the players in terms of their physical preparation and from the coaching staff, who will need to coach smarter. But if we achieve those two things then I think we are well placed to achieve what we set out to do, which is make the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup.”