'Dream come true' for tsunami-devastated Kamaishi to host Rugby World Cup match, Pita Alatini says

Tomorrow afternoon's match between Fiji and Uruguay may not be a rugby blockbuster, but it means everything to the people of the city where its being held.

Kamaishi was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Former All Black and current Tonga assistant coach Pita Alatani was there and counts himself lucky to have survived.

The tsunami almost destroyed the rugby-loving seaside town of Kamaishi, leaving more than a 1000 people dead, three per cent of its population.

“The panic became real when we saw the Japanese people run out of the apartments and that's very rare,” Alatini said.

Alatini was playing for the local Kamaishi Seawaves team that season, March 11 also happened to be his birthday but by chance a doctor's appointment ran late, forcing him to put off plans to celebrate the day with his family in town, narrowly missing the disaster.

“Yeah the aftermath was horrible, I've never seen anything like it, the fact that the town was under water, the bodies by then that were found were covered over with tarpaulins ... places we used to go were thoroughly destroyed so that was pretty tough to take,” Alatini said.

"One of the real meanings of the stadium and the Rugby World Cup as a whole, for Kamaishi, is to show the people that helped them, how well they have done with their support," former Kamaishi Seawaves player and coach Takeshi Nagata said.

“For Kamaishi people it's something that they really were strong and passionate about, a little rugby town, to have that and they see that as hope and a dream for them come true,” Alatini said.