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Over the weekend, Japan and the USA had home games against traditional rugby heavyweights, something they don’t get often.
Japan hosted the Welsh and the USA hosted the Irish. In both games clear and easy victories were expected but what we got was positively different.
The Japanese performed brilliantly, leading the Welsh for the majority of the game. They scored two tries and trailed by one point with a minute to go but ended up going down 22-18 by the 80th minute.
This was a nice sight to see on the scoreboard, with previous clashes not looking so pretty. The Japanese went down 72-18 to the Welsh in 2007 and 98-0 in 2004.
The Americans similarly performed above their weight, hanging with the Irish for the entire game and having many close opportunities for tries that could’ve seen them get the upset.
They finally went down 15-12 – much closer than previous encounters and follows a nice trend of decent scores losing to the Irish 22-10 in 2011 and 27-10 in 2009.
What was just as impressive as the close scores were the strong crowds.
The match at Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka attracted 20,152 and the match at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston brought in a loud and motivated 20,181 (could’ve been bigger if it had been in Irish-strong Boston) breaking last year’s record crowd of 17,214 against Wales at the same stadium.
Even though both sides had players missing on the Lions tour, Wales and Ireland should be applauded for coming down to play against minnow nations as this is exactly what these nations need to build support and bridge the gap with first tier nations which has been embarrassingly wide for a long time.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.