"Japan has a longer rugby tradition than France"

Japanese rugbymen are nicknamed "Brave Blossoms", and these "brave flowers" float a scent of freshness on the World Cup currently organized on their archipelago. Men coach Jamie Joseph won all their first-round games and reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the very first time. Better: they do it by the grace of a game of speed and precision that has something to worry South Africa (Sunday at 12:15, Swiss time) and which transcends to the greatest specialists.

Frenchman Olivier Nier has been watching the development for twelve years. The current coach of the Swiss team, he made a first trip to animate a university seminar around the French sports model. Since, he multiplies the return trips, spending ten days on the spot every three months. He was coach of Toyota Shokki, now works as a consultant for the Sunwolves team and during the World Cup, he is mandated by the prefecture of Yamanashi, where the Blues live, to make sure everything goes well. A phone call at the foot of Mount Fuji.