Matsushima named PureVPN Player of the pool stages

Japan’s Kotaro Matsushima has been named as Talking Rugby Union’s PureVPN Player of the Rugby World Cup pool stages.

In truth, this award could have gone to a few candidates. New Zealand’s Beauden Barrett has been superb for the All Blacks as they finished on top of Pool B whilst Wales’ clean sweep in Pool D saw the likes of scrum-half Gareth Davies shone alongside the likes of Josh Adams and Justin Tipuric.

The Six Nations champions also felt the full force of Fiji’s Semi Radradra who was at his brilliant best earlier in the competition, but one team and one player in particular have taken this tournament by storm.

Japan ignited the competition with their stunning performance against Ireland and the Brave Blossoms went on to top Pool A with a quite brilliant display against Scotland in Yokohama.

Playing a starring role for the host nation has been Matsushima, who scored a hat-trick on opening night against Russia and he also crossed the whitewash in their crunch match with the Scots last Sunday. His lighting quick break against Gregor Townsend’s side also led to one of the tries of the tournament.

His electric pace and energy will undoubtedly cause problems for South Africa in an historic quarter-final for Japan as Jamie Joseph’s side aim to continue their World Cup adventure.

To see how Matsushima and Japan get on against the Springboks, check out PureVPN + you can also stream the other quarter-finals from wherever you are in the world. Click here to find out more!