THE Japanese women’s sevens team is ready for battle in the Oceania 7s tournament this weekend at the ANZ Stadium.
Manageress Akane Kagawa said the players were in top shape and working on their individual performance.
“They are concentrating mostly on their defence and set pieces,” she said.
“The last thing we want is to give away penalties that can cost us the game. “The girls have been adapting well to the weather and to the environment focusing on the task at hand.”
With the epic performance of the Japan men’s 15 team in the Rugby World Cup, it has set a standard for the players to perform at their best since they will be hosting the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“We want to improve on our areas, basically our passes, lineouts, our scrum and other areas because these show what we have been doing during training.
“Since we will be hosting the Olympics the onus is on us to perform at our best and we want to win on our home ground.
“We really want to build as a team and win this tournament for Japan and for our families back at home.”
Many of the Asia Series teams now turn their focus to the Asia Qualifier tournaments for the 2020 Olympic Games.
