“There is always gonna be a fine line, and when you’re playing a contact sport, there’s going to be moments when you’re inching closer to the red than the blue. So it’s about balancing each other and taking moments to remind yourself to play smart. On the flip side of that, it’s not letting those moments beat you. Making sure that you rise up to the next occasion, like, you know, I could dwell on that penalty I got when we were 5-10 meters from the line, or I could focus on my next job, and make sure I pour as much energy into that as possible.”
Coming off the Canada loss the Eagles know they couldn’t win their lineouts. But while that was something to look at, maybe it’s not the key issue with Japan.
“Every game’s unique, in terms of the matchups and and the lineout,” said Lawrence. What could be something to watch is the kicking game. The Eagles have given up some unfortunate tries on kick receipt, and Japan will probably kick, too.
“Each game it’s just being accurate,” said Lawrence. “With when we kick, it’s understanding how to use, momentum, particularly in unstructured play around the kicking game. It used to be where you kicked the ball when you ran out of options, and you need to start to begin to think of the kick as the start of an attack. Recently I think it’s a couple of fluke things that happened in the kicking game. You can do 9 out of 10 kicks that are spot on, and then the 10th one gives up a try against you, and the kicking game may sound broken, but a bad result doesn’t mean a bad process, and it doesn’t mean a bad team.
“So, no, I’m not unhappy. Is there something to learn around how we position ourselves around contestable kicks? Yeah. There’s always improvement there, but, we’ll just keep working on it.”
Japan can run, they have knowledgeable players, and they offload well. They put 57 points on Canada, so the Eagles will have to adjust to that.
“They’re brave, they play fast, and they pose some interesting challenges,” said Lawrence. “But it’s not really even about Japan at this point, for us. We’ve just got to be the version of ourselves that we are.”
And what is that?
Hard-hitting, dangerous on attack (the loss to Canada was about possession, not ability to score), and resilient.
“Everyone has their own unique style and take on that, but at the core of it all is that physicality and bravery and belief in what we can achieve, right?” said Damm. “In the lineout we don’t have to go too complicated or too simple; we just need to do what it takes and have our go-to moves that are going to get us where we want to go. We’re a dangerous team, attacking and defending, and we’re a confident team when we have the ball in our hands, and we’re playing on top and smashing people, being physical, whether it’s attack or defense, we’re a confident team that can attack from anywhere.”
AloJapan.com