In their first match of the World Cup, the New Zealanders, doubles title holders, defeated the South Africans 23-13, taking an option on first place in their group and a qualification for the quarter-finals.
Obviously, Kishiboy did not have his place on Saturday, September 21st, on the ground of Yokohama International Stadium (owned by Nissan), where New Zealand beat (23-13) South Africa at the end of a Epic match, opening Group B Rugby World Cup organized in Japan. The meeting closed a day marked by the victory of Australia on Fiji and the laborious French on the Argentines.
Kishiboy is a bloated and bloated character imagined by Japanese designers Ryoichi Nakano and Yusuke Kitani. 1.70 m high and with its 71 kg, it has everything you need to play sports and even less promote it. He hates walking, can not run and sleeps 70% of the time. The opposite of what we saw on the lawn this Saturday between the two rival teams in the southern hemisphere.
However, the two creators of Kishiboy have chosen to make the hero of books or videos posted on an offbeat website and full of humor, to present different sports: judo, sumo and lately rugby. On this subject, Ragubi no ruru cho shokyuren (Rugby rules for super beginners, ed. Pepper Collins Japan) was one of the recent bookstore successes in Japan. The book presents in a simple and colorful way the details of the game, its phases, its vocabulary, its complexities, through drawings featuring the plump Kishiboy and other characters with similar physics. "It's like a comic book"says Yuki Yamamoto, director of the collection that published the book but also a former rugby player at Waseda University.
High intensity
This little book has helped to educate many Japanese, not necessarily aware of a sport that is practiced by only 75,000 people, as the competition approaches. "In fact, it is mainly young women who have been interested in these publications because many do not know rugby", notes Yasuhiro Matsuzaki, former rugby player who covers the competition for the weekly Toyo Keizai.
In Yokohama, the Japanese and Japanese dominated the stands – again full – for the match between All Blacks and Springboks. How many readers of Kishiboy? No one knows, but the Japanese have obviously appreciated the duel of the giants of the South who turned to the advantage of the All Blacks. They knew the rituals that can accompany these meetings. As South African fans, they have thus hailed from a long "Beast", the coming into play of the legendary pillar Tendai Mtawarira.
On the match itself, what would Kishiboy say? No doubt, as observers, the All Blacks won at the end of a meeting of high intensity, not even noticed in the first games of the competition, including Japan-Russia and France-Argentina, and that they were adept at exploiting the mistakes of an adversary whose aggression in defense was sometimes disturbing.
There was fighting and gambling in Yokohama and the audience held their breath for a long time as everything seemed to rock with every action. The phases lasted several minutes, the ball changed sides … But not the victory that took shape in the first half. The Blacks scored two tries in the first period and the Springboks one in second.
"Work the discipline"
South Africans may be upset and their coach, Rassie Erasmus, may have regretted the trials and too many gifts to the opponent "On ball losses and bad kicks". He also regretted the 11 penalties conceded. "You really have to work on discipline"he added, referring to upcoming matches, starting with the 28 September match against Namibia, the other African nation in the tournament.
Rassie Erasmus nonetheless emphasized the good first fifteen minutes of his team, which literally muzzled the All Blacks with his ultra-aggressive defense, which allowed him to take the advantage on a penalty.
"It was a big game," acknowledged Steve Hansen, his New Zealand counterpart, who praised the quality of the Springboks' defense and swept the critics over some of his team's inability to create opportunities. " We won. We are happy. " He will be able to work quietly on the next All Blacks game on October 2 against Canada.
