HOME CROWD CAN INSPIRE BRAVE JAPAN
JAPAN second row James Moore believes the backing of the partisan home crowd can roar his team to victory over Scotland and into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first-time ever.
The Australian, who only qualified to play for the Brave Blossoms through residency earlier this year, believes anything is possible in what is shaping up to be a nervy Pool A qualification decider in Tokyo. Every Japanese newspaper or television channel led with the dramatic win over Samoa on Saturday — with the crucial bonus-point try coming in added time from Kotaro Matsushima. But Moore, who plays for Japanese club Munakata Sanix, doesn’t see it as a burden to carry that level of expectation.
‘I only qualified for Japan just before the Pacific Nations, so that game against Samoa was just my sixth cap,’ said the towering lock. ‘There is a lot of pressure but playing for Japan in this World Cup is unbelievable.
‘Japanese rugby fans are definitely the best in the world. When you’re out on the field, you try to block it out and just focus on playing rugby, but sometimes it’s hard with how loud it is.
‘You do have a really good feeling when you go out because everyone is cheering you.
‘Even in the warm-up you’re pretty pumped up because of it. It’s a good feeling although it can be a little bit weird.
‘For instance, we usually go out for a coffee on game day, but we couldn’t leave the hotel on Saturday before the Samoan one because there was about 1,000 people outside. It’s a bit like being held hostage, but it’s something we can deal with.
‘We’ve been saying we’re going to try and make the quarter-finals and that has always been our goal. So there is pressure to fulfil that goal. And there is obviously more pressure with this being a home World Cup but with this support it is possible.’
Although confidence was high in the Japan camp before the World Cup, the win over Ireland after the opening-day victory over Russia took it up a level.
‘The win over Ireland changed things and gave us more belief,’ continued Moore. ‘Everybody realised, hey, we can really do this. It gave us a lot of belief and confidence in our game.
‘We knew that the bonus point could be really critical against Samoa and we were pretty ecstatic to get it at the end. It is going to be really important going into the next game against Scotland.’