Wednesday, July 18, 2012

RUGBY IN JAPAN NEWSLETTER Volume 9, No.26

RiJ has been working back through the history of Japan tests and this week looks at the British Columbia tour to Japan in 1959. RiJ is pretty thick this week with a general wrap-up of the PNC and full coverage of the French Barbarians tour. Some people are asking about the Japan U20s, but right at the moment there is no time, but stay tuned.

Enjoy the read.

CONTENTS

  • Japan Test Match & Player History Project: BC Tour to Japan 1959
  • French Barbarians Tour to Japan 2012

Ian McDonnell lives and works in Japan. He can be contacted at ianmcdo@apost.plala.or.jp

The Japan Test Match & Player

History Project

For nine years now RiJ has been documenting Japanese rugby across various levels of the game. More recently, however, RiJ has recognised the need to accurately document the history of Japanese test match rugby and the players that have represented Japan down through the years. With this in mind, RiJ has embarked on a project to write the history of Japanese international rugby, detail every test that Japan has played and profile every player that has represented Japan.

British Columbia Tour to Japan 1959

In February and March 1959 the British Columbia Bears toured Japan playing eight games on tour winning five, drawing two and losing one.

Game 1: British Columbia 17 d All-Meiji University 3, 26 February 1959, Chichibu, Tokyo.

Game 2: British Columbia 14 d All-Waseda University 5, 1 March 1959, Chichibu, Tokyo.

Game 3: British Columbia 40 d All-Keio University 9, 4 March 1959, Chichibu, Tokyo.

Game 4: Yawata Steel 3 drew with British Columbia 3, 7 March 1959, Kitakyushu.

Game 5: Kintetsu 16 d British Columbia 9, 11 March 1959, Nishinomiya.

Game 6: First Test.

Game 7: British Columbia 16 d Kanto 3, 18 March 1959, Chichibu, Tokyo.

Game 8: Second Test.

Japan 17 – British Columbia 21. Sunday, 15 March 1959, Hanazono, Osaka. (Test No.18, Japan Game No.29)

Japan 11 – British Columbia 11. Sunday, 22 March 1959, Chichibu, Tokyo. (Test No.19, Japan Game No.30)

Tomoo Chiba was head coach of Japan for the British Columbia tour to Japan in March 1959. Chiba became the fifth coach of Japan and he only coached these two tests in his short stint in charge of the national side. As one of ‘The Originals”, Chiba played his one and only test as lock in the inaugural test Japan played on the tour of Canada in 1930. Twenty-nine years later at the age of 54, Chiba became the first person to represent Japan as a player and also coach Japan at the international level when he was head coach for two tests against British Columbia on their tour of Japan in March 1959. The test he played was against British Columbia which was a draw and the two tests he coached Japan were also against British Columbia for one loss and another draw. Interestingly, he is Japan player number five and he is Japan coach number 5. Chiba passed away in April 1974 at the age of 68.

In the first test played in Osaka on Sunday, 15 March 1959, BC beat Japan 21-17 in what was Test number 18 for Japan. Outside centre Tatsuya Aoi was captain, becoming the fifteenth captain of Japan in eighteen tests. The 26 year old Aoi played with the Yokogawa Electric Corporation club at the time and this was his third test. He would go on to play a total of six tests, four of them as captain with his final test again against BC in Vancouver in April 1963. In that final test, he was not only the captain but he was also the coach of Japan, the only player in the history of Japanese test match rugby to captain/coach Japan.

Under Chiba as coach and Aoi as captain, Japan had six players making their international debuts while flanker Toshiaki Tsuchiya was the most experienced player with ten caps to his name. All the new players in the team were university students with four of them coming from Waseda University in hooker Eiichi Shiga, lock Seiji Tanaka, No8 Hideki Tominaga and fullback Susumu Kitaoka while the other lock, Kenji Otsuka was from Doshisha University and flanker Kinichi Miyajima was from Keio University. Shiga passed away on 14 April 2012 in Inzai city, Chiba prefecture aged 74. The Canadians scored five tries to three and after leading 10-6 at the break went on with the match in the second half to win 21-17.

In the second test played at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Sunday, 22 March 1959 in front of 20,000 people, the two sides played out an 11-all draw in what was Test number 19 for Japan. Japan lead 8-3 at the break but the Bears won the second half by the same margin with the visitors having their second draw on tour. One interesting note about this test was that BC No8 Denis Beich played with only one arm.

French Barbarians logo

French Barbarians Tour to Japan 2012

With the inspiration of the likes of Jean-Claude Skrela, Jacques Fouroux and Jean-Pierre Rives, members of the victorious France Grand Slam side of 1977, le Barbarian Rugby Club was officially established on 11 August 1979. Skrela had been invited to play for the England based Barbarians and this experience flowed on to the French form of Barbarians. Like their English counterparts, Les Babas are an invitational rugby team and they play in a three blue hooped jersey with players using their club socks. Players of any nationality playing in France are invited to play for the team.

The original Barbarians were based on Old Boys from Oxford University and Cambridge University and this has been incorporated into the French Barbarians strip with the Sky blue of Cambridge, the Navy blue of Oxford along with the Royal blue of the French flag making up the three blue colours of the jersey.

The French Barbarians played their first game against Scotland in Agen on 1 May 1980, winning 26-22 and before coming to Japan they most recently tour Argentina in June 2011, beating the Argentina Pumas 21-18 but losing to Argentina 23-19. It is the first time for the French Barbarians to visit Japan but it is not the first time the two sides have meet. Japan toured France in October 1985 under coach Hitoshi Oka and captain and prop Koji Horaguchi playing six games on tour including two tests against France XV. In between the two test, Japan played the French Barbarians at Cognac on 23 October 1985 losing 45-4 in what was Japan Game No.232. The game is significant because it marked the retirement of Jean-Pierre Rives and also because Jean-Pierre Elissalde who would later become the head coach of Japan in 2006 also played in the game.

Over the years, such French rugby greats as Skrela, Fouroux, Rives, Serge Blanco, Fabien Galthie and Philippe Sella have played for the Barbarians while John Eales and Nick Farr-Jones from Australia and Naas Botha from South Africa have also been invited to play for the club.

Game One

French Barbarians 40 d Japan XV 21

French Barbarians 40 – Tries: Benjamin Lapeyre 2, Thierry Lacrampe, Marvin O’Connor and Julien Arias; Conversions: Camille Lopez 3; Penalties: Benjamin Lapeyre, Camille Lopez and Pierre Bernard d.

Japan XV 21 – Tries: Kosei Ono, Yu Tamura and Shoji Ito; Conversions: Yu Tamura 2 and Ayumu Goromaru.

Competition: French Barbarians Tour to Japan 2012.

Date: Wednesday 20 June 2012.

Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo.

Kick-off: 7:30 PM local Japan time.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).

Attendance: 3, 799.

Halftime: French Barbarians 32 – Japan XV 7.

Japan XV

Pos.

Name

Club

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

1

Masakazu NAGANO

Yamaha Jubilo

25

182/110

-

2

Ryuhei ARITA

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks

23

176/100

7

3

Hiroshi YAMASHITA

Kobe Steelers

26

183/121

13

4

Koji SHINOZUKA

Suntory Sungoliath

28

196/101

6

5

Michael BROADHURST

Ricoh Black Rams

25

196/105

-

6

Tsuyoshi MURATA

NEC Green Rockets

23

185/100

-

7

Takamichi SASAKI

Suntory Sungoliath

28

184/95

13

8

Shoji ITO

Kobe Steelers

31

191/97

7

9

Jun FUJII

Toshiba Brave Lupus

29

170/77

6

10

Kosei ONO

Suntory Sungoliath

25

171/81

12

11

Sho TAKENAKA

Tsukuba University

19

176/88

-

12

Yu TAMURA

NEC Green Rockets

23

181/87

3

13

Tomohiro SEMBA

Toshiba Brave Lupus

29

183/97

7

14

Toshiaki HIROSE (c)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

30

173/81

8

15

Yasunori NAGATOMO

Suntory Sungoliath

26

176/85

9

16

Takeshi KIZU

Kobe Steelers

23

183/111

14

17

Hidetatsu TSUBOI

Chugoku Electric Power

23

181/115

2

18

Shinya MAKABE

Suntory Sungoliath

25

192/112

9

19

Yusaku KUWAZURU

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks

26

188/97

3

20

Keisuke UCHIDA

Tsukuba University

20

177/81

2

21

Harumichi TATEKAWA

Kubota Spears

22

181/93

7

22

Ayumu GOROMARU

Yamaha Jubilo

26

185/97

18

Head Coach: Eddie Jones (AUS).

All reserves used.

French Barbarians

Pos.

Name

Club

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

1

Yannick Forestier

Clermont Auvergne

30

181/110

-

2

William Servat (c)

Toulouse

34

180/100

49 (FRA)

3

Rabah Slimani

Stade Francais

22

178/110

-

4

Mathias Rolland

Castres

32

198/115

-

5

Romain Millo Chluski

Toulouse

29

196/123

18 (FRA)

6

Ibrahim Diarra

Castres

29

185/105

1 (FRA)

7

Pierre Rabadan

Stade Francais

31

192/102

2 (FRA)

8

Damien Chouly

Perpignan

26

192/102

4 (FRA)

9

Thierry Lacrampe

Castres

24

177/70

-

10

Camille Lopez

Bordeaux

23

175/88

-

11

Marvin O’Connor

Aviron Bayonne

21

178/77

-

12

Guillaume Bousses

Racing Metro 92

30

184/92

1 (FRA)

13

Henry Chavancy

Racing Metro 92

24

181/95

-

14

Julien Arias

Stade Francais

28

178/82

2 (FRA)

15

Benjamin Lapeyre

Toulon

25

181/87

-

16

Mathieu Bonello

Castres

29

181/98

-

17

Aretz Iguiniz

Aviron Bayonne

29

183/116

-

18

Robins Tchale Watchou

Perpignan

29

198/134

-

19

Antonie Claassen

Brive

26

191/106

-

20

Romain Teulet

Castres

34

163/80

-

21

Pierre Bernard

Castres

23

187/89

-

22

Hugo Bonneval

Stade Francais

21

185/90

-

Coaches: Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit.

All reserves used.

Game Two

French Barbarians 51 d Japan XV 18

French Barbarians 51 – Tries: Hugo Bonneval, Thierry Lacrampe, Pierre Bernard, Pierrick Gunther, Antonie Claassen and Pierre Rabadan; Conversions: Romain Teulet 2, Pierre Bernard 4; Penalties: Pierre Bernard 3 d.

Japan XV 18 – Tries: Sho Takenaka and Michael Broadhurst; Conversion: Ayumu Goromaru; Penalties: Ayumu Goromaru 2.

Competition: French Barbarians Tour to Japan 2012.

Date: Sunday 24 June 2012.

Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo.

Kick-off: 2:00 PM local Japan time.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).

Attendance: 5,628.

Halftime: French Barbarians 17 – Japan XV 8.

Japan XV

Pos.

Name

Club

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

1

Yusuke NAGAE

Ricoh Black Rams

26

171/105

7

2

Takeshi KIZU

Kobe Steelers

23

183/111

14

3

Kensuke HATAKEYAMA

Suntory Sungoliath

26

178/111

34

4

Michael BROADHURST

Ricoh Black Rams

25

196/105

-

5

Hitoshi ONO (c)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

34

192/105

61

6

Takashi KIKUTANI

Toyota Verblitz

32

187/100

51

7

Yuta MOCHIZUKI

Toshiba Brave Lupus

30

184/105

7

8

Hendrik TUI

Panasonic Wild Knights

24

189/109

2

9

Atsushi HIWASA

Suntory Sungoliath

25

166/72

15

10

Kosei ONO

Suntory Sungoliath

25

171/81

12

11

Hirotoki ONOZAWA

Suntory Sungoliath

34

180/85

74

12

Harumichi TATEKAWA

Kubota Spears

22

181/93

7

13

Ryan NICHOLAS

Suntory Sungoliath

33

190/100

38

14

Sho TAKENAKA

Tsukuba University

19

176/88

-

15

Ayumu GOROMARU

Yamaha Jubilo

26

185/97

18

16

Ryuhei ARITA

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks

23

176/100

7

17

Hiroshi YAMASHITA

Kobe Steelers

26

183/121

13

18

Shinya MAKABE

Suntory Sungoliath

25

192/112

9

19

Shoji ITO

Kobe Steelers

31

191/97

7

20

Jun FUJII

Toshiba Brave Lupus

29

170/77

6

21

Yu TAMURA

NEC Green Rockets

23

181/87

3

22

Yasunori NAGATOMO

Suntory Sungoliath

26

176/85

9

Head Coach: Eddie Jones (AUS).

All reserves used.

French Barbarians

Pos.

Name

Club

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

1

Lionel Faure

Clermont Auvergne

31

186/117

8 (FRA)

2

William Servat (c)

Toulouse

34

180/100

49 (FRA)

3

Aretz Iguiniz

Aviron Bayonne

29

183/116

-

4

Mathias Rolland

Castres

32

198/115

-

5

Robins Tchale Watchou

Perpignan

29

198/134

-

6

Ibrahim Diarra

Castres

29

185/105

1 (FRA)

7

Pierrick Gunther

Toulon

22

190/107

-

8

Antonie Claassen

Brive

26

191/106

-

9

Thierry Lacrampe

Castres

24

177/70

-

10

Pierre Bernard

Castres

23

187/89

-

11

Oliver Phillips

Stade Francais

28

180/92

-

12

Hugo Bonneval

Stade Francais

21

185/90

-

13

Henry Chavancy

Racing Metro 92

24

181/95

-

14

Jean Marc Mazzonetto

Stade Montois

28

180/90

-

15

Romain Teulet

Castres

34

163/80

-

16

Mathieu Bonello

Castres

29

181/98

-

17

Yannick Forestier

Clermont Auvergne

30

181/110

-

18

Romain Millo Chluski

Toulouse

29

196/123

18 (FRA)

19

Pierre Rabadan

Stade Francais

31

192/102

2 (FRA)

20

Marvin O’Connor

Aviron Bayonne

21

178/77

-

21

Guillaume Bousses

Racing Metro 92

30

184/92

1 (FRA)

22

Benjamin Lapeyre

Toulon

25

181/87

-

Coaches: Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit.

All reserves used.

Game Two Wrap-up

The visiting French Barbarians made it a clean sweep of the two game tour of Japan when they beat Japan XV 51-18 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Sunday 24 June 2012. In the first game played mid week at the same venue, the French beat Japan XV 40-21.

After using a number of fringe test players in the first game, Japan head coach Eddie Jones bolstered his team for the return match with the bulk of the mainstay players used earlier in the season over the HSBC Asian Five Nations and IRB Pacific Nations Cup tournaments.

The scrum in particular was put under pressure in the opening encounter and so Jones re-vamped his forwards line-up with Yusuke Nagae, Takeshi Kizu and Kensuke Hatakeyama coming in as a completely new front row, while veteran Hitoshi Ono joined up and coming lock Michael Broadhurst in the second row. Broadhurst was the only player in the forwards to retain his place in the starting line-up while Ono was handed the captaincy in the absence of regular captain in wing Toshiaki Hirose. Further, the backrow of Takashi Kikutani, Yuta Mochizuki and Hendrik Tui took over for the second game.

Atsushi Hiwasa came into the run-on side at halfback, while outside him Kosei Ono kept his place at five-eighth. Harumichi Tatekawa and Ryan Nicholas were the new centre combination while teenager Sho Takenaka shifted from the left wing to the right to allow Hirotoki Onozawa to come back into the starting XV with Ayumu Goromaru returning as fullback. All-in-all, in a near full test strength side, Broadhurst in the forwards and Ono and Takenaka in the backs were the only players to start in both games.

In a warm but humid day in Tokyo with the expected highs in the mid 20s, Japan XV kicked off with the French Barbarians defending the northern scoreboard end of the ground. In the opening exchanges it soon became apparent that this was a much more competitive Japan outfit with improvements right across the board, including at scrum time.

Nevertheless, it was the visitors that posted first points, firstly through a penalty in the 15th minute when New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence penalised the Japan scrum for collapsing and then a converted try in the 25th minute when the French backs countered from an awry Hiwasa box kick with centre Hugo Bonneval winning the race to the ball from a chip kick. Five-eighth Pierre Bernard converted the try to create a 10-0 lead and increase the pressure on the Japan XV after a fine opening quarter.

The hosts were next to trouble the score keeper with a Goromaru penalty in the 28th minute but then it was again the Barbarians that got on the scoreboard with their second try on the half hour mark to stretch the lead to 17-3. In the lead up to the try, the French got on the front foot with a quick lineout with Bernard then putting in another deft chip kick in behind the defensive line with the ball popping up nicely for halfback Thierry Lacrampe to dot down.

As the halftime hooter sounded, it looked like the teams would go to halftime with the French Barbarians leading 17-3, but from a quick tap from a penalty from in front of their own posts Japan caught the French unawares when they ran the ball right to find young Takenaka who virtually ran the length of the field, leaving defenders strewn in his wake as he scorched his way to the try line. Goromaru could not land the conversion but the Japanese narrowed the gap to 17-8 by the break.

In fitting running Barbarians style, the second half well and truly opened up with the Baabaas adding four converted tries to one. Goromaru and Bernard kicked early second half penalties but over the final twenty-five minutes the visitors cut loose with an intercept try to Bernard in the 15th minute, followed by five-pointers to flanker Pierrick Gunther in the 25th minute, No8 Antonie Claassen two minutes later and finally replacement Pierre Rabadan touched down at the death.

Lock Michael Broadhurst scored the only try for the Japan XV side in the second half after backing up an explosive mid field break from centre Ryan Nicholas but overall the Japanese had no answers to the inventive and expressive strength, speed and superior skill of the French.

After the match, hooker and captain in 34-year-old 49 test veteran William Servat bade au revoir to his professional rugby career by saying how honoured he was to captain the team on this tour. He went on to add that in the modern era as a professional rugby player, the simple joy of playing the game is often lost but playing here in Japan with the Barbarians rekindled that basic joy rugby for him.

For Eddie Jones as the losing coach, he made the following comments, “Sometimes you just get beaten by a better team. They played very well and their fundamentals are very good.” Despite the second loss to the Barbarians in the space of five days, Jones added, “The great thing for us, we actually got ourselves into a position to win the game. Unfortunately we made a lot of easy mistakes and this let us down in the end. This is the reality of where we’re at. We know where we want to go. In two years time we target to beat a team like that.”

Stand in captain Hitoshi Ono said, “We prepared well for this match, but one-on-one power and skill let us down. However, I believe this is nothing to get down about as this side is set to improve in leaps and bounds.”

In wrapping up the spring international season in his first year in charge, Jones said, “This year we have tried to develop a style of play that’ll give us a competitive edge in the future. We don’t yet have the consistency in games to play at high level all the time, but now we have to work on our strength and conditioning and our ability to consistently execute skills under pressure.”

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