Classic All Blacks vs. Japan

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see Jonah Lomu, in person, stomping his way through the Japanese rugby team like Godzilla through downtown Tokyo? No? Neither have I, but last Sunday I got the opportunity to see just that.

The new coach of the Japanese Rugby Team a.k.a. ‘The Brave Blossoms is none other than John Kirwan, ex-All Black and childhood hero of thousands of Kiwi kids (including Kevin and I) and in order to steel his new charges for the rigors of the upcoming world cup he invited a few of his Kiwi mates over for a couple of exhibition games.

Sponsored by Master Card, the team was called ‘the Classic All Blacks’ although not everyone therein had played for the ABs in the past. Still, as well as Jonah, there were some of the biggest names of the last generation of All Blacks, including Justin Marshall, Andrew Mehrtens, Eric Rush, Tony Brown and my fave Carlos Spencer. While a good few years older than the Japanese on average, most of the players are still plying their trade somewhere in the world, so it was definitely no ‘Golden Oldies’team.

The CABs only just managed to beat the Blossoms 35-36 in the first game in Kobe (see story here) so Game 2 in Tokyo was all set to be a thriller (of sorts). Could a team in black, even if they were all a wee bit old, lose to the Asian champs but world minnows? And that is why Joshie and I (plus my mate Steve) donned our AB shirts and took the Shikansen up to the Big Smoke on a brilliant, sunny Saturday afternoon.

We definitely weren’t disappointed either, Jonah played more than 18 minutes this time including one busting run through half of the Japanese team a la the atomic powered monster I mentioned above. If he hadn’t lost a yard or two of pace (I reckon it was the kidney transplant’s fault) it would have been a fantastic try, but alas he was dragged down just before the line by his speedier opposite number. Still, King Carlos had brought his A game and that more than made up for the lack of a Jonah Try. The king banana kicked, side-stepped and goosied his way around the hapless Japanese for the majority of the second half setting up two tries in the process. Brilliant is all I can say! Suffice to say, the 36-6 score line was a bit more reflective of the gap in abilities, strength and power between rugby in Aotearoa and ragubi in Nippon than the game in Kobe.

Read another match report here.