Saturday, November 22, 2014

RUGBY IN JAPAN VOL.11, No.39

RiJ can tell the reader that Top League is on break for two weeks while Sevens hits the headlines at the Asian Games.

 

Enjoy the read.

CONTENTS

  • Top League 2014-15:
    -bye
  • Rugby Sevens
  • Top League News
  • Japan National Squad Camp

 

Top League

Japan Rugby Top League 2014-15

Bye

Rugby Sevens

The Cold Coast Sevens in Australia over the weekend of 11 and 12 October 2014 is the opening round of the HSBC Sevens World Series 2014-15. Japan is in Pool A with New Zealand, Samoa and France.

The 17th Asian Games, Incheon, South Korea. Both man and women will be competing in Sevens at the Games from 30 September to 2 October. Twelve countries will participate in the men’s competition across three pools and Japan is in Pool A with Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. Ten countries will participate in the women’s competition across two pools and Japan is in Pool A with China, Singapore, South Korea and Uzbekistan.

The Japan Sevens Squad for Asian Games

 

Name

Club

DOB

Age

Hgt/Wgt

 

Takashi SUZUKI

Kubota Spears

18/01/1981

33

166/73

 

Lepuha LATUILA

Kintetsu Liners

19/01/1985

29

189/109

 

Yusaku KUWAZURU

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks

23/10/1985

28

188/97

 

Lote TUQIRI

Hokkaido Barbarians

12/11/1987

26

188/98

 

Katsuyuki SAKAI (c)

Toyota Industries Shuttles

07/09/1988

26

172/88

 

Michael LEITCH

Toshiba Brave Lupus

07/10/1988

25

190/105

 

Shohei TOYOSHIMA

Toshiba Brave Lupus

09/01/1989

25

175/87

 

Lomano LEMEKI

Honda Heat

20/01/1989

25

179/95

 

Masaki WATANABE

Ricoh Black Rams

07/09/1989

25

176/80

 

Shunya GOTO

Honda Heat

04/12/1989

24

189/95

 

Shota HAGISAWA

Kubota Spears

19/01/1990

24

187/95

 

Makoto KATO

Kyuden Voltex

01/08/1990

24

176/85

 

Masakatsu HIKOSAKA

Toyota Verblitz

18/01/1991

23

177/92

 

Kazushi HANO

NTT Communications

21/06/1991

23

184/86

 

Rakuhei YAMASHITA

Kobe Steel

30/01/1992

22

174/85

Head Coach: Tomohiro Segawa.

At the second round of the ARFU Asian Sevens Series in Malaysia on 6 and 7 September 2014, in Japan cruised past Singapore and Chinese Taipei in Pool C, beat Thailand 47-7 in the Cup quarters and South Korea 19-12 in the semis. Japan were not so lucky in the final with Hong Kong taking the prize 24-7. Hong Kong also beat Japan in the final in the previous round in Hong Kong.

Top League News

One of the changes to Top League for the 2014-15 season is the introduction of the Television Match Official (TMO) for all games, including the Play-offs and Wildcard at the send of the season. The National Championship will also make use of the TMO.

The Top League play-off tournament has a sponsor this season and will be called the LIXIL Cup 2015.

Kobe prop Hisateru Hirashima became the thirty-first player to join the century club recently when he ran out for his one hundredth Top League game against Suntory at Chichibu on 19 September 2014.

Panasonic wing Tomoki Kitagawa joined the century club recently when he ran out for his one hundredth Top League game against Sanix in Ashikaga on 21 September 2014. He capped off the occasion with four tries and was man of the match in the 80-7 win.

Kubota hooker Kaname Ogiwara joined the century club recently when he ran out for his one hundredth Top League game against Yamaha in Niigata on 21 September 2014.

Suntory and Japan back rower Hendrik Tui is heading to the Queensland Reds to play in Super Rugby for the first time next year. Tui will be with the Reds from March to August 2015. He will join James O’Connor and Karmichael Hunt as new Reds next season.

Japan National Side News

The Japan squad will have a mini-camp from 21-23 September 2014 at the Canon Sports Park.

Japan Squad for Mini-Camp

Name

Club

DOB

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

Ryuhei ARITA

Coca-Cola Red Sparks

21/03/1989

25

176/100

7

Shoji ITO (553)

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

02/12/1980

33

191/100

26

Keita INAGAKI (Uncapped)

Panasonic Wild Knights

02/06/1990

23

183/115

-

Hitoshi ONO (445)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

06/05/1978

36

192/106

85

Shinnosuke KAKINAGA (Uncapped)

Suntory Sungoliath

19/12/1991

23

180/114

-

Takeshi KIZU (533)

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

15/07/1988

25

183/114

28

Hendrik TUI (565)

Suntory Sungoliath

13/12/1987

26

189/107

25

Luke THOMPSON (493)

Kintetsu Liners

16/04/1981

32

196/108

48

Kensuke HATAKEYAMA (515)

Suntory Sungoliath

02/08/1985

29

178/115

58

Hisateru HIRASHIMA (514)

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

15/01/1983

31

180/110

35

Michael BROADHURST (566)

Ricoh Black Rams

30/10/1986

27

196/111

16

Hayden HOPGOOD (TBC)

Kamaishi Seawaves

30/07/1980

34

190/105

1

Yoshiya HOSODA (Uncapped)

NEC Green Rockets

05/08/1987

27

192/103

-

Ryu Koliniasi HOLANI (512)

Panasonic Wild Knights

25/10/1981

32

188/112

35

Shota HORIE (530)

Panasonic Wild Knights

21/01/1986

28

180/105

32

Kyosuke HORIE (TBC)

Yamaha Jubilo

11/07/1990

24

183/103

2

Shinya MAKABE (534)

Suntory Sungoliath

26/03/1987

27

192/118

27

Amanaki LELEI MAFI (Uncapped)

NTT Communications

11/01/1990

24

189/112

-

Masataka MIKAMI (567)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

04/06/1988

26

178/115

21

Hiroshi YAMASHITA (523)

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

01/01/1986

28

183/122

36

Michael LEITCH (518)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

07/10/1988

25

190/105

37

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atsushi SAKATE (Uncapped)

Teikyo University

21/06/1993

21

180/99

-

Craig WING (571)

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

26/12/1979

34

180/90

7

Keisuke UCHIDA (558)

Panasonic Wild Knights

22/02/1992

22

177/85

8

Kosei ONO

Suntory Sungoliath

17/04/1987

27

171/83

22

Ayumu GOROMARU (467)

Yamaha Jubilo

01/03/1986

28

185/99

41

Male SAU (568)

Yamaha Jubilo

13/10/1987

26

183/97

18

Harumichi TATEKAWA (557)

Kubota Spears

02/12/1989

24

181/94

26

Yu TAMURA (555)

NEC Green Rockets

09/01/1989

25

181/92

25

Yutaka NAGARE (Uncapped)

Teikyo University

04/09/1992

21

166/69

-

Toshiaki HIROSE (495)

Toshiba Brave Lupus

17/10/1981

32

173/82

21

Atsushi HIWASA (545)

Suntory Sungoliath

22/05/1987

26

166/72

36

Kenki FUKUOKA (569)

University of Tsukuba

07/09/1992

21

175/83

11

Karne HESKETH (Uncapped)

Sanix

01/08/1985

29

178/98

-

Kotaro MATSUSHIMA (TBC)

Suntory Sungoliath

23/02/1993

21

175/88

4

Yuki YATOMI

Yamaha Jubilo

16/02/1985

29

176/82

13

Akihito YAMADA (574)

Panasonic Wild Knights

26/07/1985

28

181/90

9

Ryohei YAMANAKA

Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers

22/06/1988

27

188/93

1

Back-up Squad

Name

Club

DOB

Age

Hgt/Wgt

Caps

Kai ISHII

Tokai University

04/08/1993

20

178/76

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aki MAKITA

Ricoh Black Rams

21/02/1992

22

182/86

-

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