Brave Blossoms Take the Hard Road in RWC Rebuild

Following Japan’s three-match Lipovitan D Tour 2024 to Europe, in which the Brave Blossom’s faced France, Uruguay and England, Head Coach Eddie Jones’ spoke with the media upon the team’s arrival back at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Rounding off the year with four wins from 11 test matches, Jones’ primary message to the gathered media was that the Brave Blossoms are a work in progress that will require a combination of hard work, persistence and patience.

Looking ahead to Rugby World Cup in 2027, Jones made it clear when he rejoined Japan that his intention was to completely rebuild the team, from the ground up. It was therefore to be expected that this young and inexperienced Brave Blossoms side would struggle against top-ranked teams. While this has been the case, they’ve also shown glimpses of how Jones wants them to play. While both the team and fans would have no doubt been hoping for a better set of results, there were a number of positive that could be taken from the season.

First and foremost was the introduction of a raft of new talent into the national team set up, including the capping of 20 new players across the season. In addition, the JRFU established the Japan Talent Squad to identify and develop high-potential athletes at university level and those coming into university rugby. “We’ve already put a lot of hard work in place, including blooding 20 new caps. I’m confident that a number of those players will go on to become very good players for Japan,” commented Jones.

“At the last World Cup, Japan had the oldest squad, so we had to change the team and with that comes some pain. But we’re making a massive investment for the future. Going into the next World Cup we need a team with 500 to 600 caps – we’re currently playing with about 200. That inexperience has shown at crucial times – where a small moment is missed, possession is handed to the opposition, which then doubles in terms of its impact.”

A further bright spot was Japan’s performance across the revamped 2024 Pacific Nations Cup. Apart from the final, in which Japan succumbed to an in-form and rampaging Fijian side, the Brave Blossoms enjoyed strong victories against Canada, the USA and Samoa. Throughout the tournament, Japan showed how they want to play – high speed, positive and attacking rugby that takes advantage of Japan’s traditional playing style and strengths.

While not official test matches, the Japan VX hosted the Māori All Blacks for a two-match series in June and July. While the visitors proved too strong in their first fixture in Tokyo, Japan were able to record a rousing and historic, first-ever win over the Māori in their return match in Toyota City.

“This year has shown that we’re a team who can beat the teams below us, we can beat teams around us, but we don’t yet have the capacity to beat the top teams. That’s been the case since 2019, so it’s not a new issue. We’re taking steps now to address that, but it will take time.”

When asked about the specific areas which he and his coaching team are focusing on, Jones continued, “Looking towards how we want to play, obviously we need to start fast and finish strongly. We then need to be able to control the tempo in the middle of the match. For that to happen, we need a strong attacking kicking game, and we need to be able to get the ball back and slow the tempo of the game down. We don’t have that kicking game yet, nor do we have a team huge in jackaling skills, so we need to develop this over the next three years.”

Jones saved his final message for the fans who would have been expecting this new generation to take time to bed in, but would have also been hoping for a stronger set of results. “For our fans, they’ve got to keep believing in us. With any team, you have tough times and the only way you get through them is to stand up and fight together. Japanese fans at our home games this year have been fantastic. What I can guarantee them is that we will work every minute of every day to get better.”

Japan Rugby 2024 Match Results

Saturday 22 June 

Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024 Japan vs England

National Stadium, Tokyo　

17-52 (L)

Saturday 29 June 

Japan XV vs Māori All Blacks

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo

10-36 (L)

Saturday 6 July 

Japan XV vs Māori All Blacks

Toyota Stadium, Toyota City

26-14 (W)

Saturday 13 July 

Japan vs Georgia

Yurtek Stadium, Sendai

23-25 (L)

Sunday 21 July

Japan vs Italy

Sapporo Dome, Sapporo

14-42 (L)

Sunday, 25 August 

Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Pool B Match Canada vs Japan

BC Place Stadium, Vancouver

28-55 (W)

Saturday, 7 September 

Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Pool B Match Japan vs USA

Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Saitama

41-24 (W)

Sunday, 15 September 

Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Semi-Final Two Japan vs Samoa

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo

49-27 (W)

Saturday 21 September 

Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Final Japan vs Fiji

Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashi Osaka

17-41 (L)

Saturday, 26 October 

Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2024 Japan vs All Blacks

Nissan Stadium, Yokohama

19-64 (L)

Saturday, 9 November

France vs Japan 

Stade de France, Paris

52-12 (L)

Saturday, 16 November

Japan vs Uruguay 

Chambéry Savoy Stadium, Chambéry, France

36-20 (W)

Sunday 24 November

England vs Japan

Twickenham Stadium, London

59-14 (L)