Japan looking to change poor record against All Blacks - Rugby News
The current Asian champions, Japan, tasted their worst ever defeat in rugby tests against All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup of 1995, are set to change history. On September 16, Japan will stand toe-to-toe with New Zealand at Hamilton for the second time
in the history of the event.
Previously, the sides met in the world showpiece of 1995 and the All Blacks thumped the Japanese by an insulting margin of 145-17 and registered a new world record to their name. The Japanese coach, John Kirwan, claimed on September 15 that his side is much
improved now and will present a good competition against the All Blacks.
The Japanese have not been able to erase the bitter memories of the dreadful defeat at the hands of New Zealand and are motivated to show the improvements they have made with the passage of time. However, they have not started off their Rugby World Cup 2011
campaign in an impressive way as they faced a stunning defeat by France in their opening game on September 10, in Whangarei.
Toshizumi Kitagawa, who plays at the lock position for Japan, talked to journalists about their next tough encounter and said that as soon as the Japanese learned about the All Blacks match the defeat from the previous competition was in everyone’s mind.
The Japanese coach also looks determined before the highly anticipated battle as he told the media about the match. Kirwan said that, “I think the game's completely changed since 1995. Tomorrow evening is about being competitive.”
He further said that, “We've got a goal to be the most improved country at the World Cup and so that means competing last week against France, competing tomorrow night and then winning our last two games.”
Japan has formed a strong team to face the All Blacks in Hamilton. Meanwhile the All Blacks are deprived of four seasoned players including Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Dagg Israel and Mils Muliaina due to various injuries.
Japan: Taihei Ueda, Takahisa Usuzuki, Koji Taira, Yuta Imamura, Hirotoki Onozawa, Murray Williams, Atsushi Hiwasa; Takashi Kikutani (captain), Michael Leitch, Itaru Taniguchi, Toshizumi Kitagawa, Hithoshi Ono, Nozomu Fujita, Yusuke Aoki,
Naoki Kawamata.
Reserves: Hiroki Yuhara, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Yuji Kitagawa, Sione Talikavili Vatuvei, Tomoki Yoshida, Shaun Webb, Alisi Tupuailai.
Tags: