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Japan rugby coach pits players against sumo heavyweights

Japan rugby coach John Kirwan has started sending his players to brutal sparring sessions with giants of the sumo world in a bid to toughen up his side.

The former New Zealand great, whose team emerged from last year’s rugby World Cup with credit, watched from a safe distance as his players took a pounding from the roly-poly wrestlers.

“There’s techniques you can use in the scrum,” Kirwan told Japanese media yesterday. “The speed at the face-off can help with the hit in the scrum.”

His players were not quite so enthusiastic about taking such a battering.

“It’s a totally different ball game,” winced Japan lock Hitoshi Ono, sporting the traditional buttock-bearing mawashi loin cloth worn by sumo wrestlers. “These boys are huge!”

Japan’s “Brave Blossoms” bowed out of the World Cup with their pride intact after a 12-12 draw with Canada in their final Pool B game.

Meanwhile, all-conquering New Zealand hope to wrap up the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series with victory in this weekend’s Adelaide leg.

The Kiwis, 26-12 winners over South Africa in last weekend’s final of the Hong Kong Sevens, are 38 points ahead of the South Africans and can seal an eighth world title in nine years on Sunday.

New Zealand are on a record streak of 42 match wins in the IRB Sevens World Series and have won a record seven tournaments in succession.

This weekend the task of ending the Kiwis’ run falls to Scotland, Argentina and the Cook Islands tomorrow ahead of the anticipated clashes with nearest rivals, South Africa and Fiji on Sunday.
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