Japanese World Cup Squad Announced

[no.8]

As Sun Tzu said, "Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster."

Forwards: Yamamura, Ma.Yamamoto, Soma, Nishiura, Sugiura, Inose; Matsubara, Mi.Yamamoto, Inokuchi; H. Ono, Kumagae; Samurai Vatuvei, Thompson; Miuchi, Watanabe, Kiso, Makiri, O'Reilly, Sasaki, Marsh.

Backs: Yatomi, Yoshida, Kim; Ando, K. Ono, Arlidge; Onishi, Oto, Imamura, Taira, Robins; Ohata, Onozawa, Endo, Loamanu; Aruga.



Watch out for Daisuke Ohata the try score machine on the wing.
65 tries in 55 tests.
Only just better than Spanner!

The best one!

[tdevil]

He is such an overrated player, you have to look at who they played when he scored 80% of his test tries. I think he is on 69 tries now.
For a try scoring machine, Japan went down to USA in the last 4 meetings.

[Darren]

Ganbatte Kudasai!

[no.8]

He is such an overrated player, you have to look at who they played when he scored 80% of his test tries. I think he is on 69 tries now.
For a try scoring machine, Japan went down to USA in the last 4 meetings.

As you say Td he has been scoring while they have been losing.
Campo was scoring whilst Australia we're doing well.

I think it's the other way around, he's worked damned hard for his tries...

[shasta]

He is such an overrated player, you have to look at who they played when he scored 80% of his test tries.

Yeah but look who he plays for as well. As your signature says, it's a team game so just imagine what he could do with a first rate pack feeding him.

[Burgs]

Japan names World Cup squad

From correspondents in Tokyo, Japan
August 11, 2007

JAPAN coach John Kirwan today announced his final squad for the Rugby World Cup next month, mainly focusing on its first match against powerhouse Australia.

"We have a big responsibility at the moment, not only for Asian rugby, but especially for the Japanese rugby. This team carries the dreams and hopes of a nation that is about to explode as far as rugby concerns,'' said the New Zealand legend.

"We need a great World Cup, we need players to be great, and then we can all rejoice the success.''

Kirwan selected 16 forwards, including captain Takuro Miuchi, and 14 backs, including world top tryscorer Daisuke Ohata, as well as six back-up players he bring to France with the team.

The team also includes four New Zealand-born players and three Tonga-born players - locks Luke Thompson and Luatangi Vatuvei, flankers Hare Makiri and Philip O'Reily, centre backs Bryce Robins and Nataliela Oto, and wing Christian Loamanu.

Stand-off James Arlidge, who made a successful debut for Japan in April against South Korea scoring two tries and a perfect mark of 10 conversions, and scrum half Kim Chul-Won of South Korea were back-up players.

Japan will on Sunday leave for Italy, where it will play Italy on August 18 and Portugal on August 25 for its final warm-up matches.

"We will still be preparing against Italy. It's a very important game for the side that didn't play last night (against Asian Barbarians). We need to play a game plan we are going to use later in the tournament,'' said Kirwan.

Kirwan said his team's strengths are agility and spirit, but the players need to concentrate for the full 80 minutes as they often collapsed in the second half during the Pacific Nations Cup last month.

"To win, you must completely understand your opposition. We need to out think and outplay our opposition,'' said Kirwan.

"To do that, you must use your brains more than your bodies."

Japan will play Australia, Wales, Fiji and Canada in Pool B in the World Cup, which will start September 7 in France.

Agence France-Presse

Japan Squad

Forwards (16):

Ryo Yamamura (Yamaha Motor),
Masahito Yamamoto (Toyota Motor),
Tomokazu Soma (Sanyo),
Tatsukichi Nishiura (Coca Cola),
Yuji Matsubara (Kobe Steel),
Mitsugu Yamamoto (Sanyo),
Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba),
Takanori Kumagae (NEC),
Luatangi Vatuvei (Kintetsu/Tongan),
Luke Thompson (Kintetsu/New Zealander),
Takuro Miuchi (NEC, capt),
Yasunori Watanabe (Toshiba),
Hajime Kiso (Yamaha Motor),
Hare Makiri (Fukuoka/New Zealander),
Philip O'Reilly (Sanyo/New Zealander),
Takamichi Sasaki (Suntory)

Backs (14):

Yuki Yatomi (Yamaha Motor),
Tomoki Yoshida (Toshiba),
Eiji Ando (NEC),
Kousei Ono (Fukuoka),
Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Motor),
Nataniela Oto (Toshiba/Tongan),
Yuta Imamura (Kobe Steel),
Koji Taira (Suntory),
Bryce Robins (Ricoh/New Zealander),
Daisuke Ohata (Kobe Steel),
Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory),
Kosuke Endo (Toyota Motor),
Christian Loamanu (Saitama Institute of Technology/Tongan),
Go Aruga (Suntory)

Back-up players (6):

Takahiro Sugiura (Fukuoka Sanix),
Yuta Inose (NEC),
Taku Inokuchi (Toshiba),
Ryota Asano (NEC),
Kim Chul-Won (Kintetsu/Korean),
James Arlidge.

30 Man Squad Team of Origin:

Team/(Forwards+Backs)/Number

Suntory (1+3) 4
Toshiba (2+2) 4
Yamaha Motor (2+2) 4
Kobe Steel (1+2) 3
NEC (2+1) 3
Sanyo (3+0) 3
Fukuoka (1+1) 2
Kintetsu (2+0) 2
Toyota Motor (1+1) 2
Coca Cola (1+0) 1
Ricoh (0+1) 1
Saitama Institute of Technology (0+1) 1