In the later part of 2018 six of us decided to travel to Tokyo for the Rugby World Cup. After reviewing the options we selected Rugby Travel Ireland, we only now needed to decide which tour to take and which matches to go to. In the end we decided to go to the latter stages, to see two Quarter Finals, including an Irish quarter final if they qualified and the two Semi Finals.
Our tour was for 11 nights in Japan, 4 nights at the start in Tokyo with a trip to the west for 3 nights visiting Kanazawa, Takayama, and Nagoya, and then back again for the final 4 nights in Tokyo.
Our gang on Coach 2 for the Bonsai Tour
First impressions of Japan on arriving in Tokyo, 3 things struck me. One, it’s very orderly, queues are well managed with people marshalling them with lighted batons, and you see this all over Tokyo. No one “jaywalks” even when there’s no traffic. Two, people work well into their old age, you see elderly people marshalling queues, working in shops and stores, and elsewhere. Three there are so friendly. Everywhere you go you are greeted and treated very well. On our first night we headed out looking for a pub or bar, and met a you man in his suit on his way home from work. We asked him where we might go. He was thrilled about the rugby being in Japan and he took us to a pub and joined us for a coupe of drinks. Not only that but when we went upstairs in the bar, there were about 10-12 local men out for drinks and when they saw us they starting singing Shoulder to Shoulder.
The lads who welcomed us into the pub and started singing Shoulder to Shoulder.
One of the of the people marshalling pedestrians, very jolly guy.
The Quarter Finals
The quarter finals are on Saturday and Sunday, 19th & 20th October. We are heading to the matches in Tokyo Stadium, which are between the winners and runners-up of Pool A&B. Our matches don't start off until 19:15 but we head off early from the hotel at 14:15.
There is a large fan zone area with a big screen so we can see the other quarter finals between Pools C & D. Then it's Ireland vs New Zealand and the atmosphere is electric. With 48,000 in the stadium it feels like more than half are supporting Ireland. The fans are in tremendous form and the New Zealand haka is drowned out by a boisterous rendition of the Fields of Athenry. Unfortunately it goes down hill from there on, and New Zealand are just too good and the Boys in Green just don't perform. It's Rory Best's and Joe Schmidt's last game, and the crowd show their support for their tremendous contribution to Irish rugby, such a pity to end on a poor performance.
Back to the hotel for 23:30, to be all repeated on the Sunday for the matches between Wales and France, where Wales smash and grab a lucky win right at the end, followed by South Africa and Japan. Japan have huge support for their fast paced rugby but they have no luck breaking down the South African defence who are just too strong and end up deserving winners. Japan were winners too, in that they hosted an excellent tournament and their team played well and beat two tier one teams.
The Semi Finals
We had a break of five days where we did some touring (more about that separately) before returning to Tokyo for the Semi Finals. Saturday for England versus New Zealand and Sunday for South Africa versus Wales.
The Semi Finals were in Yokohama and although the matches were on at 5 and 6pm respectively we had to leave the hotel at 12:30 and 1:30pm. Also since we couldn’t drive directly to the stadium we went to a bus parking site and then a shuttle bus to the stadium itself. So it meant we didn’t get home till after 10 pm.
The England vs New Zealand match had a huge build up and generally classified as the “real final”. And indeed it was a fantastic match, New Zealand were outplayed by England who were just superb and deserved winners at 19-7. The World Cup was theirs to lose as far as we were concerned.
The following day Declan and I decided we would get the train to the stadium so we didn’t have to leave so early, and that was a good experience again. A couple of times when we were not sure where to go people came up to us and offered us help asking where we wanted to go and showed us the way. After yesterdays match we had high hopes the Wales vs South Africa would be another great match, but it was a turgid affair dominated by penalties and in the end edged out by South Africa. The conclusion being that England had nothing to worry about.
The following day we had the long journey home of about 22 hours. The final itself was a much better match than we could have expected with South Africa overpowering England in all areas and ending up deserved winners. What an unusual World Cup at the end with each of the top teams having one great game in them and looking unbeatable only to be beaten in the next game. Unfortunately for us, New Zealand had a great game against Ireland and looked unbeatable. Only to be beaten by England in the next game, they too were superb and looking unbeatable. But of course, true to form for this World Cup, they were beaten in the final by a superior South Africa.
I though the after match speech by the South African captain, Siya Kolisi, the first Black South African to Captain the team, was a powerful and amazing speech.
For Ireland it’s back to the drawing board, hopefully Andy Farrell can create a team that can complete at the next World Cup in 2023 in France.