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Japan thankful for local support, but doing their best to limit 'noise' during historic RWC campaign

October 14, 2019

Coach Jamie Joseph said his team embraces the support after each match but focus back in when a new week starts.

The Japanese public have jumped on their team's bandwagon at this year's Rugby World Cup while hosting the event and the Brave Blossoms appreciate all the support they've been given.

However, coach Jamie Joseph admits there's been a battle to balance that support with keeping his team focused on the job at hand.

"We call it noise, or, I call it noise," Joseph said of the support.

"Which is basically everything from walking into a hotel and having hundreds to thousands of people clapping you or walking through Tokyo station and having 50 people parting their ways like you're royalty.

"It's a little bit different, especially for me from a small town in New Zealand."

Japan are now focusing in on their quarter-final match against South Africa on Sunday in Tokyo, which is expected to be the most viewed sporting event in Japan this year.

Joseph said there were times and places to appreciate the "noise" from the hype surrounding his team but other times it was about keeping the focus within themselves.

"If we're honest with what we need to do early in the week, we need to limit that as much as possible.

"We talk about how that's not going to help us early in the week when we're preparing but we embrace it at the end of the week because it's hugely motivational and we understand we're representing a nation."

Japan made history last night with their 28-21 win over Scotland which saw them qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

They also went undefeated in their pool for the first time after earlier upsetting one of the tournament's favourites, Ireland, who are now preparing to play the All Blacks after finishing second in Pool A.

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