Brave Blossoms overcome ferocious Sunwolves challenge
Jun 14, 2021Japan overcame a tough challenge in their first game since the 2019 Rugby World Cup to beat the Sunwolves 32-17 on Saturday.
The warm-up game for Japan's upcoming matches against Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, pitted Jamie Joseph's Brave Blossoms against Japan's former Super Rugby franchise, who led 14-3 at halftime.
"They played Sunwolves-style rugby, and it felt like we were under pressure for the entire 80 minutes," Japan captain Michael Leitch said.
"In order to play our style of rugby, we need to take care of business at the breakdown, so today was a good lesson for us and gives us some things to work on that will help in our preparations."
The Brave Blossoms will play the British and Irish Lions in Edinburgh on June 26, and then play Ireland in Dublin on July 3.
"The Lions are the Northern Hemisphere's best team so we've been doing our best to prepare, so we can go there and win," Leitch said.
