This year's three nominees for 2019 Tier 2 team of the year (not necessarily the best team but one that made most progress and had the most impressive set of results this calendar year).
Japan were the sensations of the rugby world this year. All year they played brilliant rugby, which highlights included scoring 29 points in the first 30 minutes in an excellent win over their bogey team Fiji, then of course at their home RWC the huge upset over Ireland, before one of the most complete performances any Tier 2 nation has ever produced in outplaying Scotland in a fantastic match before a joyous home crowd.
The level the Cherry Blossoms reached this year was likely the highest any side outside Tier 1 has ever reached in the professional era. Whilst Japan had signs of promise in late 2017 and 2018 that meant they were not entering the RWC hopelessly. Nobody could have expected quite the quality they reached.
Many new Japanese fans will have been won over the course of this year. Questions remain though of how they follow on from this over the next 4 year cycle. The aftermath of the RWC 2015 success and the Sunwolves project turned out to be a bit of a mess. A lot of the long term future of Japanese rugby still depends on the capability of the JRFU to deliver necessary reforms below national team level.
Spain finish this year at an all time ranking high after their best ever run of results. 2019 saw their first ever 4 win REC campaign, including narrow home wins over Russia and Romania, followed by an unbeaten tour of South American Tier 2 nations which notably included a comprehensive 41-21 win over Uruguay. Their only loss of the year came away to Georgia in a competitive wind affected game, one that would have been a lot closer but for the mismatch in scrummaging strength over the second half.
These results have come in circumstances you would not most expect them to. Since their last RWC qualifying campaign, Spain have had significant upheaval in players and highly inconsistent selections. In 2019 they used 56 players in 9 tests (only their neighbours Portugal used more this year) and awarded 16 new caps. This begs the question of how much potential there remains for many further improvements should they ever get a run of games with a settled selection and good preparation.
Throughout the year they showed impressive fight to even whilst not playing breathtaking rugby find a way to get the right side of close matches. It will be interesting to see how they manage playing away from home in Eastern Europe next year and more wins will see better sides start visiting in November.
Over this decade few nations have improved as much as Colombia have done. At the start of the millennium they did not even have an active international team, and by the start of the 2010s they were losing to the likes of Venezuela and Peru and shipping 50+ points against Paraguay. Now by the end of the decade they have put 50+ points on all those sides in their last meetings with them, are not far from a top 30 world ranking, and have a homegrown player playing top level pro rugby regularly in Top 14.
In the Americas Rugby Challenge this year Colombia scored 188 points in 3 matches. They are not an overly flamboyant side, but have solid basics, and this year were by some margin the best Americas side below the Americas Rugby Championship (although still clearly trail Paraguay at junior level).
Next year should they repeat these results next year, Colombia should get an opportunity for the first time against a relatively more established team such as Chile or Brazil. It will likely be difficult at first at a higher level, but will be fascinating to see how they fare, and how much more progress they can make by the time of the end of the next decade.
Japan
Japan were the sensations of the rugby world this year. All year they played brilliant rugby, which highlights included scoring 29 points in the first 30 minutes in an excellent win over their bogey team Fiji, then of course at their home RWC the huge upset over Ireland, before one of the most complete performances any Tier 2 nation has ever produced in outplaying Scotland in a fantastic match before a joyous home crowd.
The level the Cherry Blossoms reached this year was likely the highest any side outside Tier 1 has ever reached in the professional era. Whilst Japan had signs of promise in late 2017 and 2018 that meant they were not entering the RWC hopelessly. Nobody could have expected quite the quality they reached.
Many new Japanese fans will have been won over the course of this year. Questions remain though of how they follow on from this over the next 4 year cycle. The aftermath of the RWC 2015 success and the Sunwolves project turned out to be a bit of a mess. A lot of the long term future of Japanese rugby still depends on the capability of the JRFU to deliver necessary reforms below national team level.
Spain
Spain finish this year at an all time ranking high after their best ever run of results. 2019 saw their first ever 4 win REC campaign, including narrow home wins over Russia and Romania, followed by an unbeaten tour of South American Tier 2 nations which notably included a comprehensive 41-21 win over Uruguay. Their only loss of the year came away to Georgia in a competitive wind affected game, one that would have been a lot closer but for the mismatch in scrummaging strength over the second half.
These results have come in circumstances you would not most expect them to. Since their last RWC qualifying campaign, Spain have had significant upheaval in players and highly inconsistent selections. In 2019 they used 56 players in 9 tests (only their neighbours Portugal used more this year) and awarded 16 new caps. This begs the question of how much potential there remains for many further improvements should they ever get a run of games with a settled selection and good preparation.
Throughout the year they showed impressive fight to even whilst not playing breathtaking rugby find a way to get the right side of close matches. It will be interesting to see how they manage playing away from home in Eastern Europe next year and more wins will see better sides start visiting in November.
Colombia
Over this decade few nations have improved as much as Colombia have done. At the start of the millennium they did not even have an active international team, and by the start of the 2010s they were losing to the likes of Venezuela and Peru and shipping 50+ points against Paraguay. Now by the end of the decade they have put 50+ points on all those sides in their last meetings with them, are not far from a top 30 world ranking, and have a homegrown player playing top level pro rugby regularly in Top 14.
In the Americas Rugby Challenge this year Colombia scored 188 points in 3 matches. They are not an overly flamboyant side, but have solid basics, and this year were by some margin the best Americas side below the Americas Rugby Championship (although still clearly trail Paraguay at junior level).
Next year should they repeat these results next year, Colombia should get an opportunity for the first time against a relatively more established team such as Chile or Brazil. It will likely be difficult at first at a higher level, but will be fascinating to see how they fare, and how much more progress they can make by the time of the end of the next decade.
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