Japan Accuse Ireland Of Illegal Tactics Ahead Of World Cup Clash

Illegal.

Japan have accused Ireland of scrummaging illegally ahead of their Rugby World Cup pool clash on Saturday.

Yusuke Kizu, who will start at tighthead for Japan this weekend, has claimed that Ireland loosehead Cian Healy angles inwards, which would flout the regulations for props to drive square.

“Their loosehead prop steps out, so they try to attack from the side, that’s my impression of their scrum” said Kizu.

“Ireland’s forwards really attack close to the rucks so we need to have double collisions to stop their momentum, and we need to execute our system for us to achieve that.”

”It was a positive tight-five review from the Russia game in that our defence really came up hard and we were able to force them back.”

Scrum coach Shin Hasegawa meanwhile, says Japan must shut down both Healy and Ireland tighthead Tadhg Furlong if they are to stand a chance on Saturday morning.

“We need to nullify their strong loosehead and tighthead, so we don’t let them scrum at 100 per cent,” said Hasegawa.

“I’ve loved their scrum for a long time, so we really need to think about how we counter them, and how we talk and coordinate with the players.

“It doesn’t matter who we come up against each scrum is different, some opponents allow us to scrum how we want and other opponents won’t allow us to do what we want.

“We feel confident in our scrum, a matter of fine-tuning, we need to be determined and committed in our scrum.

“We are worried because they are a very strong side, and the more you watch them, the more you analyse them you find out they are a quality side.

“So of course there are worries. But equally, that applies to any team so it doesn’t matter who we come up against.

”Whether our plan will work or not is always a worrying factor.”

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