In Minato City, just to the east of central Tokyo, you will come across the temple of Zojo-ji. Shigeru Konno is buried there, having lived a fine life until the age of 84.
Known throughout the rugby world as Shiggy, this wonderful man headed up Japanese rugby for many years. The foundations he laid led to his country hosting the 2019 World Cup.
Speaking perfect English, Shiggy often told of his failure as a Kamikaze pilot. His mission was set for September, 1945, but it was cancelled when Japan surrendered just a couple of weeks before he was due to take off on a one-way flight. Rugby will be eternally grateful for his survival and longevity.
There may have been some unexpected movement in the magnificent temple last Saturday. Indeed, it is likely Shiggy turned in his grave several times. He would have been horrified at how often his beloved team pressed the self-destruct button in Cardiff.
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The first half saw Japan reduced to 13, a high hit by Faulua Makisi and a crashing dunt off the ball by Epineri Uluiviti both resulting in yellow cards. Wales had their own problems, Josh Adams being upgraded to a 20-minute red card replacement.
And yet, the men from the land of the rising sun came within the tiniest margin of claiming victory, just four seconds. The clock showed 79.56 when referee Matthew Carley called up the TMO. After the officials had discussed the incident, Harry Hockings was rightly sent to the bunker for his head-high assault on Wales’ Alex Mann.
Wales kicked for touch and set up a maul. It could be argued that Japan were obstructed as it was formed, but, leaving that to one side, what happened next will be discussed for many a long year. Carley definitely appeared to tell Wales to use the ball – meaning it had to come out of the maul – and gave an appropriate accompanying signal.
But Wales did no such thing. Ignoring the instruction, they rumbled on and were allowed to do so, instead of being awarded a scrum, which would have triggered the final whistle. Moments later, a no-arms tackle by scrumhalf Naoto Saito was heavily punished, as Jarrod Evans kicked the resultant penalty. Wales scraped through by a single point.
It was the most important match of the weekend, with the loser condemned to drop down a level for the 2027 World Cup draw. That is now the fate of Japan and it does seem quite unfair.
We also learned how long four seconds can be. To be precise, an additional two minutes and 34 seconds elapsed before Evans’s kick split the posts.
Both Karl Dickson at the Aviva Stadium and Andrea Piardi at Twickenham delivered good performances. They were prepared to let the teams play and generally went about their business with no-nonsense efficiency.
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Dickson, particularly, didn’t delay in taking full ownership of foul play. He made these calls quickly and without fuss, finding no need to repeatedly replay the footage. On one occasion, he took a single look before declaring that he didn’t need to see any more. However, Ireland’s James Ryan might well have had a worrying bunker check for lifting up an opponent and dropping him head first.
Earlier in the day, we witnessed the worst match of the Autumn series so far. James Doleman was in charge of Italy v South Africa and, in the sharpest of contrasts with Dickson, he laboured long and hard in reviewing foul-play incidents. He also provided us with unnecessary commentary throughout – some of it bordered on coaching, not refereeing.
When it came to the straight red for Franco Mostert, I believe the officials got it wrong. It was a high-risk, unnecessary challenge by the South African, but the required level of direct head contact for the ultimate sanction was not present.
Doleman’s modus operandi had the effect of slowing down the flow of things and contributed to a dismal encounter. People do not pay good money to see the referee occupy centre stage so often, for so long. It will be surprising if we see Doleman in the Six Nations.
The weekend finished off with the Miracle of Murrayfield. Argentina overcame a deficit of 21-0 to shock Scotland with a scintillating final 35 minutes. The final score of 24-33 included the mind-boggling concession of five tries.
There were two incidents of high note. Referee Andrew Brace, who overall had a good, assured match, was advised by assistant Luke Pearce that the try which put Argentina into the lead was “off-field decision, no try”. That was overruled, correctly, by TMO Olly Hodges. He did well to interpret the murky replay footage.
The second major point arose as early as the fourth minute. A deliberate knock-on by Argentina’s Juan Cruz Mallia blocked a clever reverse pass from Darcy Graham to Jamie Dobie. There was no defender in front of the flying Scotsman. Travelling at high speed, it looked highly improbable that the so-called cover, Joaquin Oviedo, had any chance of catching him. So, a penalty try beckoned. That was my view, but not that of Brace, and his opinion was what counted.
The decision is unlikely to have contributed to the final outcome. Scotland imploded and left an unhappy crowd booing at the final whistle. Nonetheless, Ireland will not want to lose out to something similar when South Africa come visiting on Saturday. We will need everything we can get.
