RWC - The A Games with Shaggy (France vs Japan)

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The A games with Shaggy – France vs. Japan

Well, it's finally here – the 2011 Rugby World Cup has finally started, with the first game between the All Blacks and Tonga, providing the first indication of the relative strengths between the tier 1 and tier 2 nations.
The second match in Pool A is between France and Japan, and I would expect that France will win the game, but not by such a large margin as when the sides last met in 2003, when France were the winners, 51-29

Both coaches are looking to kick start their tournament with a win, and have named arguably their strongest match day 22s. This is an indication that the French are not taking the result of this game for granted, and that the Japanese are targeting this game as a possible victory for them.

The French form can be very hard to predict sometimes, as they can be magnificent one day, but very ordinary the next. They come into the tournament on the back of two closely fought wins over Ireland, and have a very strong team on paper, with strong, experienced forwards, in the form of hooker, William servat, Prop, Nicolas Mas, Lock Lionel Nallet, and a great back row featuring eighth man, Imanol Harinordoquy, and Captain, Thierry Dusautoir.

The backs too, are an exciting blend of pace and experience, with the back three, of Cedric Heymans, Vincent Clerc, and Maxime Medard, all likely to prove difficult to contain.

The Japanese come into this tournament as Pacific Nations cup champions, and with a recent win over USA, and a narrow loss against Italy, in Italy. Given that Italy recorded its first win against France in the Six Nations this year, the Italy vs Japan match is perhaps the best indication of Japan's ability to push France close in this match.

Japan's strength lies in the speed in which they play the game, so I would expect that this is the type of game that they will try to play if they can dictate the terms.

They have pace out wide in their back three, and experience in the number10 and 12 jerseys, in James Arlidge, and Ryan Nicholas.

It's hard to predict who the local Albany crowd will support, but it's likely that they will support Japan as the underdogs.

My prediction is that France will be too strong for Japan, and that they will win by maybe 14 points.

Here are the two squads for the match.

France: Cedric Heymans, Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Fabrice Estebanez,Maxime Medard, Francois Trinh-Duc, Dimitri Yachvili; Fabien Barcella,William Servat, Nicolas Mas, Julien Pierre, Lionel Nallet, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy, Raphael Lakafia. Reserves: Jean-Baptiste Poux, Dimitri Szarzewski, Pascal Pape, Julien Bonnaire,Morgan Parra, David Skrela, David Marty.
Japan: Shaun Webb, Kosuke Endo, Koji Taira, Ryan Nicholas, Hirotoki Onozawa, James Arlidge, Fumiaki Tanaka; Hisateru Hirashima, Shota Horie, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Luke Thompson, Toshizumi Kitagawa, Takashi Kikutani, Michael Leitch, Ryukoliniasi Holani. Reserves: Yusuke Aoki,Nozomu Fujita, Hitoshi Ono, Itaru Taniguchi, Atsushi Hiwasa, MurrayWilliams, Alisi Tupuailai.

Blog by Shaggy