Wales 24, Japan 23: Victory joy brings out ‘the celebration police’

Simon Thomas

It’s not too often that the celebration of a victory is the main talking point after a game of rugby, but that’s emerged as the big debate in the wake of yesterday’s dramatic encounter at the Principality Stadium.

The celebration was certainly a vivid one with super sub Jarrod Evans being mobbed and embraced by his Wales team-mates after landing the match-winning penalty with the final kick of the game.

It was mirrored among the 61,234 crowd, with euphoric scenes of delight and jubilation.

Yet, for quite a few people, the reaction did not go down well. In fact, it really stuck in the craw.

A scan of social media soon threw up several comments along the same lines.

Essentially, the theme was that it has come to something when we celebrate a win over Japan like that, with words like “embarrassing” and “bizarre” being used.

That, in turn, provoked a response from others defending the players and taking issue with the criticism, with one reference to the “celebration police” being out in force particularly catching my eye.

So what to make of all this?

Well, as the conflicting posts illustrate, there are clearly two sides to the argument.

Yes, such a celebration of a win over Japan does show how far Wales have fallen over the last few years.

Plus, it came after a pretty wretched performance, with the visitors having played the better rugby. The truth is the best side lost.

But, on the other hand, this was one of those games where the result really was everything.

Had Wales lost, they would have dropped down to 13th in the world rankings.

That would have meant them facing a significantly tougher group in the 2027 World Cup out in Australia.

The victory means they stay in the top 12 ahead of next month’s draw, so they will avoid being up against two countries ranked above them in their four-team group at the expanded 24-side event.

Pressure

Given this backdrop, there had been a lot of pressure on the coaches and players to deliver a win, so it was understandable that there was huge relief and, yes, joy.

The other point to remember is this was Wales’ first victory at home for more than two years – 833 days to be precise.

It’s been a long time since their long suffering fans have had anything to cheer about.

Moreover, it was just a second win from the last 21 Test matches.

The players have been through some pretty dark times over the last couple of years and some individuals have come in for heavy criticism.

A fair few of them had never experienced winning a Test on home soil before.

So, I think we can forgive them for enjoying the moment.

They will come down to earth soon enough with daunting games against New Zealand and South Africa just around the corner.

The reality is wins are likely to be few and far between for the foreseeable future. That’s just where we are as a rugby nation, so any success is welcome.

It’s a young group, under a new head coach, and the victory will do them a power of good.

Room for improvement

At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge how much room for improvement there is in terms of the performance.

The two main objectives for this autumn campaign were beating Japan and seeing incremental advancement.

Part one has been achieved – just – but, if anything, the display was worse than against Argentina.

At least there was some attacking positivity to take out of the Pumas clash, but Wales took a step back on that front yesterday, being too lateral and lacking creativity or cutting edge, producing just three line breaks.

The fact they failed to score a point while Japan were down to 13 men in the first half after two yellow cards speaks volumes.

In contrast, the visitors looked faster, sharper, more skilful and more incisive with ball in hand.

Furthermore, the aerial issues which blighted Wales last week have not been resolved, with too many contests lost.

It was from one such instance that Japan claimed their first try through wing Kippei Ishida, a score which also featured a couple of missed tackles in another echo of the Argentine game.

There was further repeat offending in terms of poor discipline too, with Josh Adams receiving a 20 minute red card for an elbow to the head of Ishida at a ruck.

It was while Wales were down to 14 men following their winger’s indiscretion that Japan scored their second try via a strong carry from No 8 Faulua Makisi.

With fly-half Suengsin Lee slotting five successful kicks to keep nudging his side in front in a game where the lead changed hands six times, it looked as though this was going to be a memorable day for the Brave Blossoms.

But that was the cue for Jarrod Evans to take centre stage.

When he was sent on as a 79th minute replacement for Dan Edwards, you wondered just what he was meant to do with such little time left on the clock.

But he had the perfect answer.

The situation looked anything but promising. Wales were trailing and they were stuck in their own 22 with just 90 seconds to go.

Yet they proceeded to go from coast to coast amid a thrilling denouement, with Evans immediately pulling the strings.

He handled the ball no fewer than six times in the attack from deep which culminated in Alex Mann crossing half way out on the left before being illegally felled by a no-arms hit by lock Harry Hockings which saw a third yellow for the visitors.

The resulting penalty enabled Evans to kick up to the 22 and, from Mann’s take at the lineout, Wales unfurled a mighty maul which rolled all the way up to the whitewash before an offence was drawn.

So what to do now? They could kick to the corner or they could take a tap. But Evans clearly fancied taking on the kick at goal, so acting skipper Tomos Williams pointed to the posts.

With the game now well into the 83rd minute, everything hinged on Evans’ right boot and it didn’t let him down as he bisected the uprights to signal those much talked about celebrations.

Such was the magnitude of the kick, head coach Steve Tandy couldn’t watch and had been hiding away deep inside the coaching box unable to see the posts.

But the roar from the crowd told him everything he needed to know and he was then able to join in the hugs.

You have to give real credit to Evans for stepping up and wanting to take the kick and then for having the nerve and cool head to get the job done.

Speaking afterwards, he said he was “overwhelmed” and “relieved”, while Player of the Match Olly Cracknell paid a glowing tribute to the Harlequins fly-half.

“It’s testament to his mindset to come on there, stay calm and slot that. It’s a hell of a skill,” said Cracknell.

While Evans showed his bottle, so did the Welsh team with the way they got themselves out of jail in the final few minutes, patiently working their way up field to set up the match-winning opportunity.

That decisive sequence also demonstrated their main strength during the game, the attacking line-out, which was the platform for all three of their tries.

It was the starting point, again through the leaping Mann, ahead of Dan Edwards breaking two tackles to cross early on and it launched the attack which saw Louis Rees-Zammit dive over out on the right.

Once more, it was a kick to the corner and a lineout drive which laid the foundation for Nick Tompkins to nip through a gap for the third touchdown.

So, clearly, that set piece is beginning to bear fruit, a reflection of the work overseen on the training ground by Danny Wilson, and it’s something to build on,

There were also plusses on the individual front.

Cracknell had an excellent first Test start at No 8, making more tackles (24) than anyone else on the field and leading the Welsh carrying chart with 13 as he put in some real hard yards.

His back row partner Mann also stood out, making a very decent job of adapting to the unfamiliar openside role. The phrase “all action” was seldom more apposite as he simply didn’t stop, putting in 20 tackles and nine carries, popping up to good effect in wide channels, while also winning two turnovers and being a primary source of lineout ball.

Elsewhere, it was good to see Rees-Zammit back on the scoresheet, while his 60 metre run from deep was one of the highlights of the game. The challenge for Wales now is to put him in space more often because he does look faster than ever.

It’s also worth noting the contribution of the bench and not just Evans.

Nick Tompkins was a real jack rabbit presence in the centre, while Taine Plumtree made an instant impact after replacing Aaron Wainwright on the blindside.

He was involved three times in the build up to Tompkins’ try, winning the lineout, making the key midfield carry and then grabbing a deflection off Max Llewellyn to surge up to the whitewash.

Both of them made strong cases for starting spots against the All Blacks, while there will almost certainly be a change on the wing with Adams facing a likely ban.

That could see Murray move from full-back, creating a vacancy at 15, with the aerially stronger Jacob Beetham a candidate.

Alternatively, the versatile Llewellyn could continue on the wing, having moved there yesterday, or you could recall Tom Rogers.

We also wait to see if anyone will be added to the squad this week with an eye on the final game against the Springboks, with the 13 exiles unavailable for that clash.

So plenty to mull over ahead of the arrival of the All Blacks with celebrations put to bed.