GOOD DAY
For the growing number of rugby aficionados in Japan as they discovered what team they will be supporting in the Super Rugby competition.
The Sunwolves will compete in a conference with three of the South African teams, the new, yet to be named Argentine team playing with the other three of them.
Somehow or another the quirky name seems an ideal fit for the team from the Land of the Rising Sun that has brought so much joy to so many with their playing style at this World Cup.
While professional rugby is long-established in Japan - arguably since before the sport went open with their corporate teams having recruited big names from the antipodes in particular for many years - their involvement in Super Rugby will take things up a level in both competitive terms and in building the profile of the sport ahead of Japan’s hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
They are very much marketing themselves as Asia’s Super Rugby team as well, playing home matches in Singapore as well as Tokyo.
BAD DAY
For Michael Hooper, the Wallabies flanker and, arguably, for consistency in the disciplinary process after he was banned for a week for an offence that the officials saw at the time and, perhaps leniently decided that a penalty was sufficient.
In the view of most his shoulder barge Mike Brown to bring clear him illegally out of a ruck looked very much in line with the sort of challenge that has been getting players sin-binned, but did not look like a red card offence.
Not, however, in the eyes of the man who mattered in this instance, Canadian independent judicial officer Alan Hudson who deemed it worthy of a two week ban, but taking mitigating factors into consideration halved it, which means that he will only miss the Wales match if that punishment is accepted.
That leaves Hooper and his team’s management with a tricky decision given the importance to their side of Hooper’s scavenging partnership with fellow natural openside David Pocock and the challenge likely to be posed at the breakdown by Wales’ Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric in what is a vital match in terms of who they will meet in the4 quarter-finals, but also the knowledge that appeals can go both ways which could the risk of a longer suspension that would rule him out of the knockout stages.
They have until tomorrow to decide.
WHAT’S ON TODAY
The Springboks take on the weakest of the Pool B sides and for all the respectful noises they are making it will be a major surprise if they fail to claim the bonus point win that will ensure that they top Pool B ahead of Scotland, while Georgia are set to
Results: Canada XX Romania XX; Fiji XX Uruguay XX
Fixtures: South Africa v USA at the Olympic Stadium 4.45pm; Namibia v Georgia at Sandy Park, Exeter 8pm
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