Japan reaction: Fakatava, captain Nagare, head coach Joseph

Japan reaction: Fakatava, captain Nagare, head coach Joseph

ON-FIELD REACTION 

Amato Fakatava, Mastercard Player of the Match

On the game:

“Today was pretty tough. We expect Chile to come strong. It's pretty hot but happy to be out there with the boys. My first World Cup ... unbelievable. I don't know how I made it here."

Yutaka Nagare, captain

On the importance of the win:

"Every game is not an easy game so it's really important that we grabbed that win. Chile fought really hard."


On what pleased him:

"It's great to see all the fans supporting us today, it's a great atmosphere. We struggled a little bit against the Chileans' physicality but we executed our gameplan which was great for us."

Jamie Joseph, head coach


On the bonus-point victory:

"Chile came with a really spirited performance, really hearty, tackled like demons, turned our ball over, really put us under pressure. We had to deal with that without losing confidence."

On Chile and the occasion:

"It doesn't matter how much you say to the players that Chile are going to come to play today, the support for their team was amazing. They cheered for everything, as the Japanese do, so you really feel that they had a whole bunch of people behind them today."

On the next game against England:

"We know that it's a different prospect for us, but it's been a difficult couple of weeks for us so we'll just enjoy this."

MEDIA CONFERENCE

Jamie Joseph, head coach

“It was exactly what we thought we would get from Chile. It’s their first World Cup, they are a proud country and we were always going to get a spirited, hearty performance, but they exceeded that by a long way and put us under a lot of pressure. We had to battle for everything we got.

“I am really proud of our guys. To score 40 points in the end if a big victory for us but we have no doubt that we have been in a test match.”

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