That beard’s much better than Harry’s!
Japan coach: Our best is yet to come
HIS dad is the Prince of Wales and he is vice-patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, so no wonder Prince William tried to raise morale when he met the country’s World Cup squad at a welcome event in London’s Guildhall yesterday. He joked with Wales lock Jake Ball about his hairy face, probably forgetting that King Henry VIII once introduced a beard tax for anybody with more than two weeks’ growth. And he told the rest of Warren Gatland’s players that he’d be watching Saturday’s showdown with England at Twickenham alongside his brother Prince Harry, who is vice patron of the RFU. ‘So I will need a Wales win more than ever!’ said William.
Japan coach Eddie Jones yesterday warned Scotland that his side have not peaked yet. The Brave Blossoms caused the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history with their sensational last-gasp 34-32 victory over two-time winners South africa on Saturday and Jones is confident they can take another high-profile scalp in tomorrow’s pool B clash at Kingsholm.
‘We haven’t just come here to make one splash in the pond, we want to make the quarter-finals,’ he said. ‘If the players aren’t excited after Saturday that would be a problem but they are very excited. It’s a quick turnaround but we are used to that.’
Jones has made six changes to the side which stunned the Springboks, with amanaki Lelei Mafi replacing injured no 8 Hendrik Tui.
The australian coach knows his side face an altogether different challenge tomorrow, adding: ‘Scotland are going to maul and high punt, it’s probably not going to be a pretty game.
‘We have to front up physically in the set-pieces and if we do that we will put ourselves in the game. The start will be super important, we have to start early, but that can be hard after winning the previous game.
‘To borrow a cricket analogy, if you score 100, when you come out in your next innings you have to work even harder.’
Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist said Japan’s shock win has given the other teams in pool B real belief that they can edge out the South africans in the battle for the two quarter-final slots.
Gilchrist, who has been picked ahead of giant Richie Gray to start in the second row, added: ‘We have always had a lot of respect for Japan. They showed that on Saturday and, in terms of the group, it’s blown it wide open. It changes the dynamic. Looking from the outside you’d have expected South africa to have won their first two games before facing us.
‘But even the likes of Samoa, now that they have a win under their belt over the US, will be looking at South africa and saying: “We want to beat them as well”.’
Japan have now leapfrogged the 12thplaced Scots in World Rugby’s official rankings to move up to 11th and Scotland head coach Vern Cotter believes the Japanese only showed 80 per cent of their capabilities against the Springboks. The Scots have won all four of their previous clashes against Japan but Cotter, who has picked a near full strength side, insists nobody is taking the next meeting for granted.
He said: ‘I think the (South africa) result hit home. Certainly there is no complacency there. Our squad is a humble group. It’s not one that gets ahead of themselves.
‘It gave us an additional focus because they didn’t just compete — they won. as coaches we didn’t get much sleep after the game. There’s only four days between their first two games but we expect them to be just as ferocious, just as well organised and just as driven against us as they were against the Springboks.’