Australia’s rugby team, the Wallabies, were ignominiously dumped from the 2019 Rugby World Cup that Japan is currently hosting (and being lauded for both its organization skills and the rousing performance of its unfancied team).
The Wallabies lost badly to England in a quarter final, mostly because they were not good enough as a team.
But Kangaeroo.com has also discovered another reason for the Wallabies’ woes.
Gorgeous Jindaiji Temple, which supported the Wallabies’ woeful World Cup, is situated in the Tokyo suburb of Chofu, location of the Aussies’ group stage loss against Wales on September 29 that effectively derailed their campaign on the field.
Jindaiji had proudly displayed Wallabies jerseys (alongside a Brave Blossoms team shirt, too, it should be noted) and supported the Australian team as it tried to regain the William Webb Ellis Trophy it last won in 1999.
The temple also displayed a daruma, a doll traditionally used to pray for good luck in Japan, as well as a message wishing the team well. Here is that message, reproduced in full (with spelling and grammatical errors intact):
The conetents the priest preached when he visited the camping place for the match
Daruma is a Japanese style a bringere of good luck which you can find at restaurants, in the houses and so son. This Daruma is representing a monk who was meditating for 9 years. When you think about meditation, you might think it’s static, but actually during meditation we are fighting against and enduring something like weakness or anger or worldly desires. Meditation is not just static, but also conflicting against ourselves. that’s the training of Buddhism and that’s the spirit which Daruma is showing to us. This spirit is exactly like the spirit of Rugby. It’s very dynamic in contrast, but you play desperately for one goal with focused. In Japan, there is a proverb associated with this Daruma. that is “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” It is a saying about never giving up no matter how many times life knocks you down because Daruma always comes back after falling down. The important thing is same in Sports. The high spirits touch people’s hearts. So, like this daruma, attend to the spirit and concentrate on the game and play a good game which touches people. I believe that this Daruma which you team put strong wish will bring good result. Today we want you to put one eye into Daruma. Putting an eyes means that you swear to start the mental training and achieve the goal. This ceremony is for the time which you have strong wish, so please don’t fool around make a wish.
Clearly, then, in spite of rumors of a rift in the Wallabies camp, the reason for such a dismal showing by the two-time champions and reigning runners-up was that they fooled around to make a wish.
At least the Wallabies retained the team’s excellence in selecting players with hyphenated names, the squad’s Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Dane Haylett-Petty continuing the Australian tradition of picking lads with monikers like Massy-Westropp, Comrie-Thomson, Farr-Jones, Scott-Young, Kenny-Dowall, Waerea-Hargreaves, Tuivasa-Sheck, Asofa-Solomona, Polota-Nau, Feauai-Sautia, Mann-Rea, Paenga-Amosa and Johnson-Holmes.
