JAPAN COACH JAMIE Joseph has revealed that his players get paid an allowance of less than €16 a day while on tour — while England’s internationals earn over €28,000 per match.
Joseph and Japan are in Twickenham on Saturday where they’ll come up against an England side anxious to get last weekend’s agonising 16-15 loss to New Zealand out of their system.
The former All Blacks lock insisted his side have no plans to follow Eddie Jones advice to “go to the temple and pray” ahead of the game.
And he pointed to the huge financial disparity between the two sides.
“Our [home-based] guys here are amateur, they are employees of companies,” he explained. “They get 2,000 yen a day, while our professional players, the foreigners we have in our team, don’t get paid for playing for Japan.
“But they do it because they want to play a high level of rugby that they don’t get in Japan.
Playing a team like England is a great opportunity. If you put that altogether we have got different motivators and we just want to get out and leave our footprint behind.
Joseph was as enthralled as anyone in a capacity crowd of more than 82,000 at a rainswept Twickenham last weekend as the All Blacks recovered from 15-0 down to edge England.
“Our players all watched the England match; I went to the Test match, loved it,” he said. “Those types of games are exactly what rugby’s all about in my view.
“But I suspect the game that we play, how the All Blacks play, and the fact England have had a few matches, it could be a little bit different this weekend,” he added.
The 2019 World Cup hosts are looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time having produced the biggest upset in rugby union history when, with Jones as their coach, they beat South Africa 34-32 in pool play during the 2015 edition in England.
Dry conditions on Saturday would suit Japan’s gameplan and their preferred fast-paced style of moving the ball.
“When we’ve got the ball and guys are really excited about playing, we’ve got a different style of play; we’re not as big as others, but we’re quick,” Joseph said.
“In tough conditions it’s tough to get our game going, so we’re hoping and praying for a bit of weather. I’m not sure I’m going to the temple though!”
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