Japan vs Argentina Preview – RWC 2023 Pool D Pool Match

The Brave Blossoms play Argentina in Nantes on Sunday, October 8 2023 at the RWC 2023 in a must-win match to reach the quarterfinals in France.

Argentina have won five of their previous six Test matches against Japan and the last three in a row, but this will be the first matchup since 2016 and much has changed.

Assistant Coach Riki Flutey said this past week “We know Argentina are an awesome team. They have some of the best defensive stats in world rugby. We know it’s going to be tough, but we have a lot of confidence coming out of the Samoa game. It’s really a final for us. If we win this game, it gives us an opportunity to go through to the quarter-finals. So we are really focusing in the next few days on how we are going to play the game. We are really excited for this challenge.”

JRFU Men’s Assistant Coach Riki Flutey – RWC 2023

Brave Blossoms front rower, Craig Millar, said of the Pool D clash, “Without giving away our plan to Argentina, we are out there to win obviously. We are not going to be going out there as a defensive team, we are going out there to score some tries. We have to win the game first.”

Japanese Stats – RWC 2023

• Increased their gain line success to second-best.
• Only 9th for clean breaks, 6th for defenders beaten 7th for offloads.
• Red-zone efficiency improved but they only have the seventh-most entries.
• While the scrums have been a success story, the lineouts are only 12th for success rate – on the flip side, they have won the most steals.
• The Japanese have the 3rd best discipline overall at RWC 2023 (averaging 7.3 penalties per match whereas the team average is 10+).

Shin Hasegawa, Men’s Assistant Coach has been praising Rikiya Matsuda’s conversion kicks saying that his ability to nail three points makes a big difference.” Obviously, we do have times when we want to maul and scrum close to the goal line, but we have a definite area for Rikiya Matsuda now, where he will nail those three points. Knowing that the work they put into comes out as three points, gives a lot of relief to the forwards from a mental point of view.”

The whole team will need to perform to get a win over Argentina, and the Japanese fly-half added: “Beating Samoa after a tough battle brought me confidence as well as for the team going into the Argentina game. As long as we bring what we’ve been working on, we can play against any country. The way we prepare and the way we understand the game is special. We want to prove that against Argentina.”

Image Credit: World Rugby / RWC 2023 – Japan vs Argentina Head To Head Stats

Popular fullback or wing, Kotaro Matsushima, is eager for the match, adding: “Winning this game is all we have on our minds. I’m not anxious at all, I’m really excited for this game and I just want to get out there.” Thebacks will need to be ready to counter Argentina’s kicking game and he said “I think we previously had opportunities where we could have scored a couple of tries. In those moments, we need to trust our decisions even when there’s a risk. As long as we can trust our skills, I think we have the potential to score more tries. So, when we see space, we want the inside backs to just pull the trigger.”

Los Pumas will be hoping to reach their 5th RWC quarterfinals by beating Japan and Head Coach, Michael Cheika, has called for greater consistency from his squad. “We have to be more consistent with our game. There were good moments against Chile, then moments when the focus was not there. We have to make the good moments more consistent; I know we can’t do it for 80 minutes because we are playing against a strong opponent.”

The Australian was full of praise for Japan saying of their opponents “Japan is a very competitive team in every area, with an attack and defence system that is very different from other teams. They have been working with Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown, who are very good coaches that I respect a lot.”

Japan will wear their traditional white and red kit and Argentina will play in their dark blue alternative strip.

Match Permutations World Rankings – Japan vs. Argentina

• Japan could jump three places to ninth in the World Rugby rankings if they beat Argentina and confirm their place in the quarter-finals.
• Japan could also fall two places if they lose, and Georgia and Samoa beat their higher-ranked opponents this weekend.
• Los Pumas would fall two places to 11th with another pool stage exit, and as many as three places if the margin of defeat is by more than 15 points to the Brave Blossoms.
• If Argentina reaches the quarter-finals with a win by more than 15 points (and the higher-ranked teams above them win their matches_ they could move to eighth place.

Japan Brave Blossoms Squad vs Argentina – RWC 2023 Pool D Sunday, October 8th 2023

There is only one change to the starting XV that beat Samoa’s 28-22 – Siosaia Fifita replaces Jone Naikabula on the left wing.

Joseph has stuck with the core of the team at RWC – as many as 8 players have played (and started) every game in France;  Amato Fakatava, Keita Inagaki, Jiwon Gu, Jack Cornelsen, Michael Leitch, Rikiya Matsuda, Kotato Matsushima, and Ryoto Nakamura.

Image Credit: World Rugby / RWC 20231 Keita Inagaki
2 Shota Horie
3 Jiwon Gu
4 Jack Cornelsen
5 Amato Fakatava
6 Michael Leitch
7 Pieter Labuschagne
8 Kazuki Himeno (c)
9 Naoto Saito
10 Rikiya Matsuda
11 Siosaia Fifita
12 Ryoto Nakamura
13 Dylan Riley
14 Kotaro Matsushima
15 Lomano Lemeki

Replacements:
16 Atsushi Sakate
17 Craig Millar
18 Asaeli Ai Valu
19 Warner Dearns
20 Amanaki Saumaki
21 Yutaka Nagare
22 Ryohei Yamanaka
23 Jone Naikabula

Argentina Squad vs Japan Brave Blossoms Squad – RWC 2023 Pool D Sunday, October 8th 2023

Head Coach Cheika said of the team selected, “We are happy with the team we have, with its consistency. The problem is the selection because we have Facundo Isa, Rodrigo Bruni, Jerónimo de la Fuente, Cubelli, who are putting pressure (on the starting XV). Happy, of course, with the group that plays this week.”

He added of Japan, “We know the opponent, but it is more our game and how we can put them in difficulty and take points when we put that pressure on. In our preparation, we have analysed Japan, but more (we have worked) on how to put pressure on them.”

Santiago Carreras comes back in at fly-half in place of Nicolas Sanchez, while prop Francisco Gómez Kodela earns his first start since the opening-game RWC 2023 defeat against England in Marseille.

Image Credit: World Rugby / RWC 2023

1 Thomas Gallo
2 Julian Montoya (c)
3 Francisco Gómez Kodela
4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal
5 Tomas Lavanini
6 Pablo Matera
7 Marcos Kremer
8 Juan Martin Gonzalez
9 Gonzalo Bertranou
10 Santiago Carreras
11 Mateo Carreras
12 Santiago Chocobares
13 Lucio Cinti
14 Emiliano Boffelli
15 Juan Cruz Mallia

Replacements:
16 Agustín Creevy
17 Joel Sclavi
18 Eduardo Bello
19 Matias Alemanno
20 Pedro Rubiolo
21 Lautaro Bazan Velez
22 Nicolas Sanchez
23 Matías Moroni

Japan Brave Blossoms – Rugby World Cup 2023 News

• Rugby World Cup 2023 Pools – How Will Teams Progress?
• Brave Blossoms Topple Samoa In Toulouse.
• What Lessons Can Japan Take From Argentina vs Samoa Pool D RWC 2023 Match?
• Japan Brave Blossoms Fall To England As Errors Prove Costly.