Paris Olympics: Japan coach promises ‘high risk and chaos’ in men’s rugby sevens
- Games’ lowest-ranked team changed their mindset, removing the shame about failure by awarding a ‘mistake of the day’ prize
Japan may be the Olympic men’s rugby sevens tournament’s lowest-ranked team, but they believe they have a plan to upset the odds.
But putting it into action has meant challenging centuries of national identity, given it involves high risk and plenty of chaos.
“With the Japanese culture, pride and shame is big,” Japan’s head coach Simon Amor said. “Making mistakes is a difficult one for them because they are very proud of representing their families, their companies, their country.”
His team open their Pool A campaign against Tokyo 2020 silver medallists New Zealand on Wednesday at the Stade de France. They then go on to face world No 2 side Ireland before taking on South Africa, who are world champions in the 15-a-side code.
Amor said his charges had to accept that things would not always go to plan in what some are calling a “group of death”.
“We have done a lot of work these past two years about them understanding how the right type of mistakes are OK,” Amor said.