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TOULOUSE - Japan coach John Kirwan warned Fiji that his team will be gunning for glory in Thursday's (NZ time) World Cup rugby match here.
Kirwan, a World Cup winner with the All Blacks in 1987, picked a largely reserve side for his team's first match last Sunday, a 91-3 defeat to the Wallabies.
But he said Fiji will feel the full force of the Samurai warriors on Thursday.
"One thing you need to remember is that the Japanese Rugby Union has a long-term goal; we have a goal for 2011 and 2015," said Kirwan.
"The most important thing for us was we needed to play Australia; we've spoken to the players and most found it very fast, difficult to make decisions and the reaction time was a lot shorter.
"We had some very young players and that experience is going to be good for them. We played well for 40 minutes but we need to play like that for 80 minutes and tomorrow will be no different.
"We need to play our best game of rugby for 80 minutes, so it hasn't been a negative for us, it's been a positive because we know if we do play our game we can be effective."
While playing Australia was a learning curve and he never expected to get anything from the game, Kirwan says that a whole nation is hoping for a victory against Fiji.
The teams met earlier in the year in the Pacific Cup with Fiji winning 30-15 but Kirwan expects this to be different.
"We're paid to win, if it's ugly and we win I won't be complaining," he added. "This is the World Cup and while Australia was important for our future, tomorrow night is about winning for a nation.
"The whole of Japan is waiting for a victory in this World Cup and we all understand the importance of winning. I'm sure all the Japanese journalists are thinking that if it's an ugly game and we win, they will be happy.
"Obviously we want to play well and win. Saturday was about development and the future but tomorrow's about results for Japan."
But whichever way the result goes on Wednesday, Kirwan expects it to be a good advert for rugby.
"I think everyone is very excited about Japan versus Fiji, we've got to give it everything we have.
"Fiji have the possibility to score some great tries against any team in the world so I'm sure that if we both play to our potential it will be very close but very exciting."
- AFP
