If you were playing Japan rugby bingo, one of the first things that you would be able to scratch out is the inevitable lazy clichéd reference to the size of Japanese players as an explanation to their underachievement. Here is explained why it's not so simple and what the real reason is behind the Cherry Blossoms underachievement.
For a start, Japan aren't really as tiny as made out. By modern standards, overall they aren't one of the biggest teams going, but looking at the size of a first choice Japan team the bulk of it matches up reasonably near enough to standard norms or what has proved to work in the past.
The front row is bigger than France's, the back row is of a similar size to New Zealand, the 10-12-13-15 axis of the backline is no different physique wise to what Ireland field. There is no evidence that is "too small" to compete.
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| Little Fumiaki Tanaka has made it as a scrum half at the top levels of the game |
The wingers aren't giants either, but with the likes of Leigh Halfpenny, Brice Dulin, Vincent Clerc, David Lemi and Cory Jane all of similar dimensions still having success with national teams, it strongly suggests there is still room for that size of winger, not least because Japan's own wingers have long been some of their most effective players. At scrum half Fumiaki Tanaka was the smallest player at the World Cup, but again he is by no means "too small" to compete at the top level, as proven by the fact he's regarded as one Japan's top players and has made it in Super Rugby.
The only area where Japan are massively undersized possibly to their detriment is lock, where every top team has at least one freakishly big 200cm + 120kg giant there these days. Japan have a lock in Shinya Makabe who offers bulk and weight at 118kg, but at only 6'4" he's a few inches on the small side compared to some giants.
You could argue that those two lock positions may not help them perhaps, but certainly not as the main reason as to why they have consistently underperformed on the world stage. If you put undersized locks into the Ireland team and recalled Peter Stringer, then you'd have a similar sort of sized team to Japan, but you wouldn't be enough to see them suddenly plunge down the rankings to somewhere in the teens.
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| Japan have selected some brutish backs like Alisi Tupuailei in previous years |
Anyway rugby is not a competition to see who's biggest and if Japan were really so desperate for giant backs like Wales (which were little use against Ireland's Japan size midfield recently by the way), they could if they really wanted send the clarion call for some well nourished Islander like Alisi Tupuailei (the heaviest back at the last World Cup).
But it's not Eddie Jones' intention to copy sides like Wales and pick big boshing centres who can't pass (which has been attempted before by Japan and didn't really work). He made it clear upon arrival in the job that he was going to adopt a fitter distributing game plan that was more in line with the strengths of traditional Japanese rugby, and that there's no point trying to beat Pacific Islanders at their own game.
And maybe this is where size is an issue. To play the type of game Japan want to it means lots of phases and running about the pitch for rucks to get to, which is more tiring than a tighter game and perhaps that's a reason to why we've seen the Cherry Blossoms get fatigued and worn down over the last 20 minutes of matches.
Of course they could always make use of their bench at this point, but contrary to what their large registered player number might have you believe, the depth falls off a lot after the first couple lines of players, as shown by what happens every time Eddie Jones fields his experimental reserve sides. And herein lies the real deep rooted problem for Japan rugby and why they've underachieved relative to their playing resources. The development system for young players is probably one of the worst in world rugby, at least at the top 18 end of the game anyway.
Think about how the academy system normally works in most countries, a player reaches 18 or 19, then are put into train in an academy at a top level club, gradually move up levels and then breakthrough when the individual is ready. All sounds pretty sensible, but it's not like that in Japan.
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| Universities recalled wingers Kenki Fukuoka and Yoshikazu Fujita from the senior team last November |
Instead of going straight to a Top League side, leading Japanese youngster are all recruited by the leading Universities such as Waseda, Tsukuba or Teikyo. And whilst in the UK or New Zealand for instance some players might go to University alongside top level rugby, it's not like that in Japan as they have to play for the Universities and can't play elsewhere.
It may surprise many to know that University rugby is held in very highly in Japan, so much so that the University teams can even take priority over the national team on players. Two of the top talents in Japanese rugby, wingers Kenki Fukuoka and Yoshikazu Fujita who were the only University players in the squad last November both went home early in the European tour as their Universities wanted them for upcoming games. No serious rugby nation would do that.
Low level "touch rugby" as it was coined by Eddie Jones gets priority over the elite national team levels of Japanese rugby. During the years between 18 and 22, whereas the top players around the world would be getting their first taste of professional rugby the top Japanese players are stuck with University rugby, a long way from the standards of playing and training their counterparts across the globe are getting.
No young players get any game time in the Top League as a result of this system and their development is held back, most having to wait about until about 23 for them to become ready to be contenders for the national team. Jones said in 2012 that the low level of rugby makes it "impossible" for them to be picked for the national side, and only really wingers from University sides have made it even close to Japan's first choice squad under his charge.
Just to sum up the development system Japan use. It's the equivalent of England's Billy Vunipola, George Ford, Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson, instead of playing for Saracens, Bath and Exeter, their biggest domestic game of the season being Loughborough against Durham University. A highly regarded English youngster like Vunipola or Ford, instead of playing with and against top internationals and having top coaching, would have been stuck tearing apart U21 sides for years if they were Japanese.
To compare two of the recent youngsters to come into the Japan squad. One being Kotaro Matsushima, who bypassed the Japanese system and instead went through the Sharks academy in South Africa and made their U20 squad (as well as briefly spending time with the Toulouse Espoirs). In South Africa he played Vodacom Cup rugby in a team with Springboks against a side with full internationals.
Now look at Ryoto Nakamura by contrast. Highly regarded as one of the most talented young players in the country, he's spent his career in the University system not even playing with experienced adults never mind experienced Springboks.
That makes it very difficult for Eddie Jones to have young players like him properly be in contention, as he would have very little experience of coming up against anything other than other Japanese youngsters.
It's possible to compensate size for technique, when a big Samoan in Andy Tuilagi came charging at the relatively small 5'9" Matsushima, he was equal to the challenge. Tuilagi may be a limited player who on the contrary relies on nothing but bulk, but he wouldn't be so limited against sides with poor technique and conditioning. Consistent technique is honed through experience and repetition, playing "touch rugby" for years doesn't put techniques under the required scrutiny, or real onus to improve. Youngsters in Japan would rarely experience 17 stone Samoan centres trialling their technique out in University rugby.
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| GIF: Despite being smaller, with good technique Matsushima was able to negate the threat of a big lump running at him in his real international debut |
Nakamura for instance has signed for Suntory Sungoliath, there he could learn from top coaches both from Japan and overseas, compete with experienced former Highlanders centre Ryan Nicholas in his position and play with rugby legends like Fourie du Preez. He could have been doing that since he was 19 as is the norm in most countries, but instead one of the Japan's most highly regarded youngsters is nearly 23 years old and has never even played a Top League game.
Ultimately, it's this that is really the deep rooted issue at the heart of Japan's underachievement. Players normally take far longer than they should to breakthrough at the top level, and not that many at all make it through that system with a lack of depth of quality behind the Japanese first XV. Bad habits from playing a lower level of rugby easily get exposed with such a steep step up. Yoshikazu Fujita found this out in his proper international debut against Tonga last year, getting turned over and conceding a try on his first touch. The youngster was probably used to brushing off tacklers and scoring 50 metre tries when he ran into contact with that high body position in University or Asian 5 Nations rugby.
Video: Yoshikazu Fujita's first touch in his real international debut
After World War II, Japanese rugby was wrecked following the bombing which killed players and destroyed infrastructure, but it was the Universities that restarted the game and have had a strong gripping influence on it since.
The JRFU is largely made up an old boys from the Universities meaning the Universities have great power, which prevents the real reform to the system which Japan rugby has been in need of for years. The Universities are not going to vote for lessening their own power, so despite Eddie Jones regularly complaining vociferously about the system and saying "Japan rugby is stuck in the 1950's" it's not making much of a difference. The Universities once the saviour of Japanese rugby in the 1950's have been inhibiting it for the past 30 years.
There's been need of reform to the system for years and years and it hasn't come, so Japan have been forced to do the best they can to work around this system, such as calling up the highest rated prospects like Yusuke Kajimura to train with the side. The latest idea has been to arrange for a "Junior Japan" team of University players to play in the Pacific Rugby Cup against adult teams from Oceania, they were completely pulverised to an extent that it was a questionable idea, but the supposed logic behind it is to expose players to proper adult rugby.
The main point is though, when a pundit claims "Japan aren't good because of size" it's rather lazy and it's far more complicated with JRFU politics involved. Japan (especially with some useful imports) are not so small they will never be able to compete at a higher level, the truth is that Japan's system simply hasn't produced enough high quality players of any size over the years. If they fixed the system they are handicapping themselves with then they might produce the quality to be more competitive, but unfortunately it doesn't look like happening any time soon, even hosting a World Cup hasn't been able to lead to much reform.
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| Coach Eddie Jones has frequently bemoaned the Japan rugby system calling it "archaic" and "retarded" |
The JRFU is largely made up an old boys from the Universities meaning the Universities have great power, which prevents the real reform to the system which Japan rugby has been in need of for years. The Universities are not going to vote for lessening their own power, so despite Eddie Jones regularly complaining vociferously about the system and saying "Japan rugby is stuck in the 1950's" it's not making much of a difference. The Universities once the saviour of Japanese rugby in the 1950's have been inhibiting it for the past 30 years.
There's been need of reform to the system for years and years and it hasn't come, so Japan have been forced to do the best they can to work around this system, such as calling up the highest rated prospects like Yusuke Kajimura to train with the side. The latest idea has been to arrange for a "Junior Japan" team of University players to play in the Pacific Rugby Cup against adult teams from Oceania, they were completely pulverised to an extent that it was a questionable idea, but the supposed logic behind it is to expose players to proper adult rugby.
The main point is though, when a pundit claims "Japan aren't good because of size" it's rather lazy and it's far more complicated with JRFU politics involved. Japan (especially with some useful imports) are not so small they will never be able to compete at a higher level, the truth is that Japan's system simply hasn't produced enough high quality players of any size over the years. If they fixed the system they are handicapping themselves with then they might produce the quality to be more competitive, but unfortunately it doesn't look like happening any time soon, even hosting a World Cup hasn't been able to lead to much reform.
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