PEOPLE change; times change; teams change. If you ever wanted a perfect example of all that, then look at Nathan Hines and his experiences of Japanese rugby 12 years apart. As a player he was in the 2004 team that scored 100 points against the Brave Blossoms in Perth; as a coach he was the liaison man as the current side struggled to a 13 point win in Toyota City at the weekend.
To be fair, the match in Perth all those years ago was not a fair reflection of the visitors who were riven by all kinds of internal disputes and were barely able to muster much more than a team of third choice players at the time, though there were a few like Hitoshi Ono, Hines's opposite number that day, who went on to have solid careers – in his case up to, and including, the current team.
Yet, there undoubtedly was still a gulf. Scotland had beaten Japan by 21 points in the World Cup the year before, which was probably a more fair reflection of the difference, but the idea of Scotland losing was almost unthinkable.
Now. No longer unthinkable. A side capable of beating South Africa, as they did in the World Cup, has to be respected: "Japanese rugby has come on massively," said Hines "We knew coming into this tour that it was going to be harder than everyone thought.
"They did not have one or two of the players they had in the World Cup, but for me that did not really hurt them, especially in the second row. They had two second rows missing but the guys coming through are just as good.
"They are doing very well with the Sunwolves and the Asia Cup – we were looking at the Asia Cup in our analysis and the two second rows played every game, [Shokei] Kin [the flanker] played those games – they were able to give them game time and develop them. It is going to be a good thing for them especially since it is a four year run-in to their World Cup."
Fortunately for Scotland one area of dominance did work out for them and here we are back to Hines and his specialities again. With the Gray bothers, Richie and Jonny, running the show, the line out worked better than they could have hoped while both were also influential in playing the restricted, forward-dominated style the Scots adopted.
"They work really well together in the line out," said Hines. "They communicate better because they are brothers, that makes a big difference. They often share rooms together and like being together, which is a good thing. They're not like brothers who don't like being with each other, which is a massive benefit for us.
"Apart from the individual development, no matter who you are, brothers or not, the more time you spend playing together the better you are going to be. I think it is good for us that A: they are brothers, and B: they are in form and we can pair them together."
Jonny is the workhorse of the pair but what has really impressed Hines is the way that Richie has rediscovered his form in the last 12 months or so after a quiet spell after moving first to England and then to Castres in France. One result has been a big money move to Toulouse for next season, which Hines expects will reap even more benefits for the Scotland national team.
"The last year has been one of his best. We saw some good stuff from Richie during the Six Nations and then he played well at the weekend after playing 80 minutes on Sunday [in a Top14 play-off] then flying out here, having limited preparation time and still being jetlagged in the heat," said Hines.
"I think there are still development in Richie. Going to Toulouse, where there good players, will be good for him. At Glasgow and Sale and Castres he was leaned upon as being 'the' second row, but in Toulouse he will be in a group where there are other players of his calibre and that is going to help him because they will be more rigour in the group.
"If he's not really fanatical about rugby then France is pretty good for him. They are quite relaxed about things, but when it is rugby it is rugby. It's not like the British environment where you do rugby all day, analysing stuff and everything else. With French teams, you can kind of come and do your rugby, but family time and everything else is separated. I think Richie quite enjoys that. For him the balance is right.
"Richie has learned a lot from being there, being in that environment with his confrontational all the time and it is more forward oriented. Richie has skills; he is an athlete and he can run and pass and do all sorts of stuff, but I think that moving to France has helped to develop other aspects of his game."
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