Japan beat South Africa in the Rugby World Cup by a score of 34-32 in the opening Pool B match over the weekend. This is one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Rugby World Cup as Japan was able to take down the two-time world champion.
South Africa was the third-ranked team entering the match, and despite leading 12-10 at halftime, they were unable to hold off Japan. This was the most points the Boks have ever conceded at the tournament.
Japan was incredibly aggressive and brave throughout the match right until the end. At the end, Japan opted to go for a five-meter scrum as opposed to a conserved penalty kick that would have ensured a draw.
Michael Leitch, skipper for Japan, stated after the match “I could tell they were panicking. We wanted to scrum rather than take the kick because they were down a man and I personally wanted to go for a win rather than a draw. I didn’t want to let the boys down.”
The win was completely unexpected for South Africa and their fans. The winners of the 1995 and 2007 championships have previously only lost in the World Cup to two-time champions New Zealand and Australia, in addition to England. They entered the tournament with hopes of becoming the first nation to win the World Cup on three occasions.
This was Japan’s first tournament win since beating Zimbabwe in 1991, and only their second victory in tournament history. Japan hopes to keep the momentum going to become one of the two teams from the group to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Japan’s next opponent is Scotland, who they face on Wednesday, before their match against Samoa on October 3 and then the United States eight days later.
