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Japan`s key players

The loss of Ohata is a major blow for Japan

In previous years, talk of which Japanese players to look out for at a World Cup, would have focused on the backs.

Speedsters such as Daisuke Ohata, Yoshihito Yoshida, Masuho Terunori and Toru Kurihara epitomised the Japanese approach to the game - running the ball from all corners.

And then there were the New Zealand imports - Jamie Joseph, Greg Smith, Rob Gordon and Adam Parker - adding their experience to the pack.

This year's team follows that tradition to a certain extent.

Japan will again be looking to the Kiwi element in the pack to secure possession. But rather than simply hand over to the backs at the first instance, the Japanese will be looking at using their forwards to make in-roads into the opposition line.

However, the loss of world Test top try-scorer Ohata due to injury is a major blow to the Cherry Blossoms' campaign.

The introduction of the Top League has meant players in Japan have a much more professional approach to the game. Far more time is spent in the gym and the players have bulked up. A low centre of gravity ensures their scrum is able to hold its own, and watching Japan work a driving maul down the field is no longer a rare sight.

Skills-wise the Japanese players are among the best in the world, and if games were won on the training paddock, Japan would be a contender.

Unfortunately, the Cherry Blossoms seem to crumble at times when the pressure is on.

So, if Japan are to obtain the two wins the Japan Rugby Football Union have called for, they will need the rest of their key players fit and raring to go
- in particular James Arlidge, Phil O'Reilly, Glen Marsh.

Arlidge may have only played one game but his performance in an 82-0 win over South Korea in April showed just what he had to offer.

Besides bagging thirty points - courtesy of two tries and ten conversions from ten attempts - the former Auckland fly-half looked in total control of proceedings.

Japan's battling performances in the 2003 World Cup came as a result of Andy Miller directing affairs and Arlidge looks to be the natural successor.

However, he suffered a double fracture of the left leg, while playing against the Classic All Blacks on May 9.

For many that would have been a career threatening injury but Arlidge vowed on his release from hospital in June that he would make the trip to France.

Such is the importance of the NTT Docomo Kansai pivot, and the lack of depth in the key number ten shirt, that he has been included in a 44-man training squad.

That will be cut to 30 for the World Cup but head coach John Kirwan, who coached the fly-half at Auckland, will give him all the time he needs to recover.

Another player to have missed the 2007 internationals is Phil O'Reilly.
The New Zealand-born flanker has been one of the top players in the Top League in the past few seasons and had teammate Tony Brown describing him as 'one of the best opensides I have played alongside or against.'

O'Reilly's presence would boost Japan at the breakdown especially if he plays alongside Glen Marsh.

The 34-year-old Marsh (who is constantly battling a knee condition) is very much the senior member of the team, even though he has played just three times for Japan.

But he is generally regarded as being the best player in the Top League for the past four seasons. A master of slowing opposition ball, turning over ball in the tackle and acting as a link between forwards and backs, Marsh is very much key to Japan playing the high-pace game that Kirwan has asked of them.

Other players to look out for are Kosuke Endo and Luke Thompson.
Endo has been the pick of the Japan backs of the past two seasons. Against the classic All Blacks he burnt Jonah Lomu for speed before making Carlos Spencer look foolish, handing off the Kiwi on the way to recording a superb 60-metre try.

Thompson is being described as the 2007 version of Parker. A second-row with the rugby brain of a good backrow forward, Thompson is the go-to-man in the line outs and a good carrier of the ball.

Despite the loss of finisher Ohata, Japan could get the two wins they are hoping for - not to mention unsettle the Wallabies and Wales.