Japan’s World Cup preparations suffer major blow as Justin Ives ruled out due to injury – Rugby
The Japanese national Rugby Union team’s 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign received a major hit as their first choice second row forward, Justin Ives, has been ruled out from their RWC campaign.
Ives, who has been named in the Japan’s 30-man squad for the 2011 RWC with an injury, has failed to recover in time to play for the squad.
Blossoms head coach, John Kirwan, has confirmed the exclusion of Ives from their 2011 RWC campaign in a statement released on Friday, September 9.
Earlier, the New Zealand born Ives sustained an injury to the left knee during Japan’s pre-world cup warm up encounter against the Azzurri’s on August 14. Japan won the 31 – 24, which left Ives anterior cruciate ligament damaged.
Ives was included in the squad as the chances were that the injury would recover in the due course of the time. However, after weeks of rehabilitation, Ives injury failed to show any signs of recovery.
Kirwan has named Panasonic Wild Knights lock Yuji Kitagawa, as the replacement for the Ives, in their 30-man squad for their 2011 RWC campaign. It is expected that Kitagawa will join the rest of the squad on Sunday, September 11.
The 25-year-old Kitagawa will miss Japan’s 2011 RWC opening match against France.
Kirwan has expressed his disappointment on the losing Ives at the start of their RWC campaign. He added that the Ives was the part of their plans and his absence will hurt the Japan’s progress in the tournament.
Earlier, Kirwan has urged his players to put up a great show in their pool matches. He expressed his confidence that with the recent success, the team will do well in their upcoming matches, which will help them to better their record in the RWC tournaments.
Japan is placed in the Pool A of the 2011 RWC tournament. Besides Japan and France, other teams in Pool A include the hosts All Blacks, Tonga and Canada.
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