By Rich Freeman,
The morning after the night before always comes around a lot sooner for a rugby coach when the Rugby World Cup game he is being questioned about kicked off at 9 p.m.
On Friday morning, Japan defense coach John Mitchell faced the press just 10 hours after the whistle blew on a tough 28-22 win over Samoa at Stadium de Toulouse.
So while he had not been able to do any detailed analysis, he was able to give a little insight on the victory, what went right and wrong, and where the Brave Blossoms stand ahead of their final, winner-takes-all pool game against Argentina.
Having led comfortably at 25-8 and with Samoa reduced to 14 men following a red card to Ben Lam, a number of the questions concerned the closing 20 minutes as the Brave Blossoms appeared to take their foot off the pedal and almost allowed the Pacific islanders to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
"In context I did not think we managed that situation too badly but we just didn't get enough points for where I thought we had an advantage," was Mitchell's take, adding that Samoa "tried to attack us around the ruck towards the end and got some momentum."
That momentum was aided by Japan opting to keep the scoreboard ticking over via the boot of Rikiya Matsuda, rather than set up field positions from which they could attempt to get a fourth try and bonus point, and, more importantly, stretch the lead so Samoa had no chance of getting back into the game.
Head coach Jamie Joseph had earlier defended the decision of captain Kazuki Himeno to go for goal rather than the corner.
"If Kazuki felt that was the right call, we always back his decision," Joseph said late Thursday. "In the heat of the match, the players' perspective of the situation is more important than the coaches in the coaches' box."
"It is easy sitting in here talking about decisions. It is harder out there when you are under the pressure of the game. You prepare your players to make the right decision under pressure and have the courage to make the right decision. It is not always clear, so you have to back yourself."
But in the cold light of day, Mitchell seemed to suggest that perhaps Japan should have done things differently.
"We presented ourselves a couple of opportunities to score maybe two or three times during that period," he said. "So there's a choice to score but we didn't score which would have made the distance in the scoreboard different. But we got on the scoreboard in another way which got us the result."
The result leaves Japan knowing a win on Oct. 8 over Argentina, who are expected to beat Chile at the weekend, will see them into the last eight for the second straight World Cup.
"Today just means we got an opportunity to get to a quarterfinal," said Joseph after the game. "It was a test match we had to win, and that's what we've done today."
While full-back Lomano Lava Lemeki was rightly named the man-of-the-match, the collective award could well have gone to Japan's back five in the pack.
Not only were all three tries scored by the back row of Himeno, Michael Leitch and Pieter "Lappies" Labuschagne, but they and locks Jack Cornelsen and Amato Fakatava helped to defuse the Samoan physical threat.
Mitchell had special praise for Cornelsen and Labuschagne.
"They have a very good work rate and a capacity to repeat," he said.
"They are very smart so very clear on their role and anticipate the game very well. They are not really dominant tacklers by rights but they certainly make a lot of tackles and miss very few."
Leitch, meanwhile, was Japan's go-to man at the line-out following a wobbly start at the set piece, and even threw in at one when Shota Horie was sitting in the sin bin.
And the former captain is hopeful the Brave Blossoms can use the win over a team they lost to in July, as a real confidence booster ahead of their clash with the Pumas.
"There is a lot of pressure on the Argentina game, not just for us but them as well," he said.
"If we win, it is a new history for Japan, being able to win overseas and get to the next stage. That would be an incredible achievement. But we just have to focus on next week's preparation, be consistent and play well against Argentina."
Related coverage:
Rugby: Surprise call-up Lemeki inspiring Brave Blossoms at World Cup
Rugby: Japan top Samoa to keep quarterfinal hopes alive
