TOKYO (AFP) – Japan head coach Jamie Joseph believes his team’s “unorthodox” style can make life difficult for England at the Rugby World Cup, saying: “We can achieve anything.”
The Brave Blossoms’ free-flowing play took them to the quarter-finals on home soil four years ago and they have been drawn with England, Argentina, Samoa and Chile in Pool D for this year’s tournament in France.
Joseph told AFP that England “have suffered a little bit” since replacing coach Eddie Jones with Steve Borthwick in December, following a dismal run of results.
And New Zealander Joseph hopes Japan’s high-octane style can flummox England when they meet in Nice in September.
“We have a really attacking-based game using our fitness, the skill, the speed and a little bit unorthodox compared to the teams that we’re playing against,” Joseph told AFP.
“We know what England are going to bring, we know what Argentina are going to bring.
They’re going to put us under a lot of pressure, but we create pressure in different ways.”
Joseph said England “lost momentum” when they axed “master planner” Jones, who took them to the 2019 World Cup final before losing to South Africa.
Borthwick oversaw a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Six Nations in his first games in charge, losing to Scotland and Ireland before suffering a record-breaking 53-10 defeat by France at Twickenham.
But Joseph believes England will be a different team by the time the World Cup comes around.
“The team has suffered a little bit but they will be better because of that,” he said.
“I think the fact that they struggled a little bit in the Six Nations was only going to happen because it takes time for teams to build under a new coaching regime. A year on, they would have learned a lot.”
Joseph is hoping his team can reach the World Cup knock-out round for a second straight tournament.
