Japan vs. Italy

Record-setter Daisuke Ohata and team look to continue their improvement

Daisuke Ohata will be looking to add to his world record of test-match tries when Japan plays Italy in Tokyo on June 11 ©2006, JRFU (photo By Y.Hiramoto)

It’s not often that Japan rugby gets a chance to boast and brag to the rest of the world, but Daisuke Ohata has changed all that.

On May 14, the Kobe Kobelco Steelers wing became the most prolific try scorer in test match history when he scored three times in Japan’s 32-7 win over Georgia. The hat trick saw him pass Australian legend David Campese (who scored 64 times in 101 internationals), and the 30-year-old Ohata is hoping to add to his impressive total (65 tries from 55 tests) over the coming months.

Besides playing in the Pacific Five Nations—Japan has home games against Tonga and Fiji and away fixtures against Samoa and the Junior All Blacks—the Brave Blossoms also face Italy at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Stadium on June 11.

The Azzuri, under new coach Pierre Berbizier, are coming off one of their best Six Nations campaigns to date, and the game will be a good indicator as to where Japan really stands in the world rankings.

The win over Georgia—ranked one place below Japan at 18—was certainly a step in the right direction, but coach Jean-Pierre Elissalde is under no illusions as to what to expect this summer.
“The games in the Pacific Five Nations and against Italy are a real step up from what we have played so far this season,” he said. “They will be big teams with strong powerful forwards, and we will really need to fight against them.”

The Italians were last in Japan two years ago, when former coach John Kirwan led them to a 32-19 victory.

Ironically, Ohata could have added to his tally of tries that day, following a trademark break down the wing, but the speedster managed to lose the ball as he made a meal of his dive for the line. Suffice to say such showboating has since been erased from his onfield activities.

Tim Lane was Kirwan’s assistant that day, and the Australian obviously liked what he saw in Japan, as he was soon back as head coach of Ricoh Black Rams. However, a year in Japan left him a little bit more clued up as to the amateur way things are done at Ricoh, and he recently returned to France to coach Brive.

One of Lane’s frustrations was that he never knew what frame of mind his players were in. One week they could be potential world beaters (OK, Toshiba Brave Lupus beaters), the following week they were waving through the opposition like a policeman at a royal parade.

And this trait is still noticeable at national level.

However, as Elissalde pointed out recently, things are slowly coming together.

Toyota Verblitz flanker Takashi Kikutani and Toshiba lock Hitoshi Ono are both beginning to act like real international forwards. Besides being very athletic, the pair are also becoming far more streetwise, and against Georgia they were also not afraid to mix it up with the opposition, a point that brought a wry smile to Elissalde’s face.

And then, of course, there is Ohata.

Unlike Campese, who played alongside the likes of Tim Horan, Nick Farr-Jones and Mark Ella, Ohata has had to make the most of whatever ball comes his way—no easy feat given that the Japan pack is often on the back foot, and the players inside him struggle at times to do even the basics well.

Ohata deserves his moment in the spotlight, and he will be doing all he can in the game against Italy to maintain his target of at least one try in every game he plays.

Chichibunomiya Stadium, June 11. See sports listings for details.

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