Best Players So Far At RWC 2019
Oct 11, 2019
"Japan’s talismanic captain is the rock on which the team’s rise to eighth in the world rankings has been founded.
The marauding loose forward was Eddie Jones’s on-field general who famously defied orders to kick for a draw and went for the last-gasp try that shocked South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
Japan went on to win three games but failed to reach the quarterfinals – and Leitch feels he has unfinished business.
Leitch had a massive game in Japan’s 30-10 win over Russia in the World Cup curtain-raiser. The flank was everywhere, barking orders, cajoling and encouraging.
He was surprisingly dropped to the bench for the Ireland game, in what turned out to be a masterstroke by Japan coach Jamie Joseph.
Angry at being left out, a rampaging Leitch turned the game after coming on after just 30 minutes.
He returned to the back row against Samoa and was comfortably the best player on the pitch, biffing Pacific islanders out of his path with gusto in a rampaging display as he once again led by example."
