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Wales have bigger fish to fry than Japan

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Betting experts Chicken Dinner explain why despite their good record against Japan, Wales have other things on their mind

The Thrashing Forecast: Wales vs Japan

Japan + 36.5 points

Japan are a bit of a chore for Wales, a team they'd rather not play, not because they fear them, but because they've really got bigger things on their plate right now, thank you very much. Wales are a little deflated, not to mention knackered, after hurling themselves against Australia without making much of a dent, and so there's definitely a feeling of "Let's just get this over with, shall we."

Japan, then, are the ideal opponents. With one win in 18 World Cup games, there's never much glory for them to pick up. The best they can hope for is to score a few points, make the home fans grumble, and that those big old Welsh skinheads don't land too many punches. As for Japan's World Cup record, here's what they have to beat, in ascending order:

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by fewer than 10 points: 2
In a neat little bookend of success, Japan's narrowest two defeats in the World Cup have been their first and last. After game one, a 3-point defeat to the USA in 1987 (21-18), they must have been wondering what they were so concerned about. Apart from their one win against Zimbabwe in 1991, they wouldn't lose another World Cup game by such a narrow margin for another 20 years, to Fiji, last Wednesday, 35-31.

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by between 11 and 20 points: 3
A defeat by fewer than 20 points would be cause for great jubilation in the Japanese dressing room. Only three times have they held World Cup opponents to this sort of modest margin: Australia in 1987 (42-23), Ireland in 1991 (32-16), and the USA in 2003 (39-26). All games, Wales and punters may care to note, in which Japan scored quite a few points.

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by between 21 and 30 points: 5
Ireland (50-28 in 1995), Argentina (33-12 in 1999), Scotland (32-11 in 2003), France (51-29 in 2003) and Fiji (41-13 in 2003) - all reputable teams who would normally expect to barge past Japan with the minimum of objection, but not in the World Cup. Again, interested parties should note, Japan scored points in all of these games.

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by between 31 and 40 points: 2
Against Scotland in 1991 (47-9), and Samoa in 1999 (43-9).

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by between 41 and 50 points: 2
Both against - guess who? - Wales! 57-10 in 1995, and 64-15 in 1999. See why Japan don't have much appetite for playing here? Don't forget the spread is 36.5. Just saying.

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by between 51 and 100 points: 2
Japan have also received headline grabbing humiliation in a pleasingly symmetrical second game and second-game-from-last kind of arrangement, against England (60-7) in 1987, and against Australia (91-3) just the other day.

Number of World Cup games Japan have lost by 101 points or more: 1Just the one game, the echoes of which are still capable of humiliating all Japanese rugby players, day and night, wherever they are. New Zealand 145-Japan 17 was the score. A scoreline that said, "Rugby playing people of Japan; it is time to think about spending your time playing something else."