Rugby: Jones looking to establish winning style for Japan at PNC
"Last year we were runners-up in the competition, and this year our target is to go one better," Jones told an online press conference on Thursday.
"We've established the identity of Chosoku (super-fast) rugby, but we know we have to develop that style of play into a more winning style of play, and that will be one of the targets of the PNC."
World No. 14 Japan host 25th-ranked Canada in their Pool B opener on Aug. 30 before travelling to face the 16th-ranked United States on Sept. 6 for a place in the semifinals in the six-team tournament that also features Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
In November, the Brave Blossoms travel to face No. 3 Ireland, No. 12 Wales and No. 11 Georgia with a plan also in place to face top-ranked 2023 World Cup winners South Africa.
Japan's training camp starting Friday will see forwards and backs going through their paces separately in Tokyo and Miyazaki as Jones emphasized the increasing importance of the kicking game and aerial contests on the international stage.
"That's the area we need to be really good at, and we have to find our own Japanese way of doing it, because we don't have a history of kicking in Japanese rugby, as I mentioned before," he said. "We've got to develop our own way."
While identifying wing Kippei Ishida and Haruto Kida as well as center Tomoki Osada as promising talents among his backs, Jones said he is ready to take time to find the successor of captain Michae Lietch who will miss the PNC for "personal circumstances" but is expected back in November.
"If you look at the history of what Leitch has done in 2015, 2019, and he's still by far the best captain in Japan," Jones said. "(The next generation of leaders) have got huge shoes to fill, and we'll have to build up their capacity slowly."
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