RUGBY WORLD CUP 2007.

[shantystar]

Japan Fiji
We go to Pool B for this match with the Japanese Side facing the Fijians the masters of 7's Rugby,but this is the 15 man game not 7 and Fiji are a far different side in 15 a side Rugby compared to 7 a side.

Japan were well beaten in the second half of their game with Australia,but today they will field ther strongest possble line up against the Fijians,they have 4 major injury woes with Sasaki,Yamamoto,Ando and Ohata all out for this match,however the Japanese showed that they are not afraid to run the ball and against Australia they had some sucess,I would expect the Japanese to try and play with that same sort of game plan today aginst the Fijians.

The Fijians on the other hand are all big,strong and fast,7 a side Rugby is their game,at times they can look completly lost playing the 15 man code,they have named a strong side for this opening encounter and it helps them that the Japanese are comming off a short turn around today.

While this looks like a victory for the Fijians and will most likely be,the fijians are not the greatest side in the world,they are prone to giving away silly penalties and are also prone to doing silly things on the field,like head high tackles and creeping offside.For all the talent that the Fijians have they are a strange team to play in any grades,of all the Island Nations Fijians are the biggest gloatters and at times it costs them,once the Fijians realise that they are faster and stronger than most sides they tend to become cheeky or arrogant would be a better discription,they tend to taunt opponents,trust me grow up here and play with Fijians in any sport and they can be annoying to say the least,they love to get cheeky to other sides,once they break into the open and they know you can't catch them they tend to turn into idiots,mocking thier opponents on their way to scoring another try,the way to beat them is simple,hurt them.The Fijians do not like playing a hard fought match they start to get frustrated and thats when the penalties start to occur, for their size they are actually quite weak on the field and once you hit one of them they get angry about it and thats when the silly play appears,while the Japanese will be tired they will not die wondering and this match shapes as an important one for them.

The Start on this match looks alright but the real question is which side Fijian side will appear today,yes they are big and strong and fast but at times they are brainless on the field especially if they are winning and i'm not to sure if anything has changed within their ranks,today we will find out,if the Fijians play with structure,they will thrash the Japanese but structure is not something the Fijians do well.

These sides have played 8 times with the the Fijians winning 6 and Japan 2,these two sides played in the Pacific Nations Cup this year with the Fijians winning 30-15 and that was another game of the Fijians starting well and then falling into their silly ways again,they have had internal trouble leading into this World Cup and while the Fijians could quite easily run up a cricket score here with Jhon Kirwan in charge of the Japanese they will have a game plan and that will be to stop the flow of possesion for the Fijians and try to hurt them,we over here know all to well what you can do to upset the Fijians and I would expect that Kirwan has told his players to do exactly that.

This game could be entertaining and while giving the start to the Japanese might be a bit of a stretch it's a stretch i'm willing to take,lower your stake and look for Japan to not lose by more than 15 points,Good Luck.



Pick : Japan + 23.0
Odds : 1.91
Stake : 7 / 10
Bookmaker : BetFred
Date : 2007-09-12