European players need to start considering Japan if they want to extend their careers
How long is it till Japan becomes an in-demand destination for European rugby players?
South African Willie le Roux and New Zealander Kieran Read are the latest two global stars to agree moves to the Japanese Top League, with both players set to join up with Toyota Verblitz following the Rugby World Cup later this year.
Verblitz, who finished the 2018/19 Top League season in fourth, are currently led by former Rugby World Cup-winning coach Jake White and there is a strong South African contingent at the team, with the likes of Jason Jenkins, Lionel Cronjé and Gio Aplon already on board.
One of the major lures of the Top League to players in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia is the relatively low demands on the body, with teams only playing seven regular season contests, before embarking on a three-match post-season schedule, in the 2018/19 season. In the 2017/18 season, that had been a 13-match regular season, but even that extended schedule is still a lot less arduous than the 30+ match seasons that you find in Europe.
Whilst it offers increased earning opportunities for southern hemisphere players, it is not quite the same financial promised land for northern hemisphere players, who already earn significant money in the UK, France and Ireland. That said, the toll on the body is a lot less.
How far away are we from seeing top European players head over to Japan for a couple of years at the beginning of a cycle, save their bodies some punishment, and then return to push for international selection a season or two before the next Rugby World Cup?
Take Manu Tuilagi for example. There are two major schools of thought surrounding his impending decision to either move to France or stay in England with Leicester Tigers.
One says that he should go to France. He has been plagued by injury problems and a rugby player’s career is a short one. His career could end tomorrow in training with the wrong kind of collision or he could spend the next few years continuing to struggle with groin issues and miss out on the lucrative England test match fees which majorly bump up any Gallagher Premiership contract. Take the money and set yourself up beyond rugby.
The other is that he owes Leicester a debt. That the East Midlands club handed him a big contract previously and have stuck by him through all the injury issues and the odd off-field indiscretion. Combine that Leicester contract with his England match fees and he would be earning plenty of money, whilst staying in contention for the national team and potentially the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Then he could take one final big money deal and retire on his own terms.
There’s credibility to both arguments, but why isn’t Japan in the mix? It’s surely something that his agent would potentially want to guide him towards.
Tuilagi could make major money as one of the star players at a Top League club, earning, per game, a figure likely higher than he would warrant in England or France. Factor in again that there are restrictions in the Top League in terms of foreign players in the matchday squad and he may not even find himself playing in every game of the season that he’s fit for, with other foreign players rotated in and out of the line-up.
A couple of years in Japan are not going to tax his body in the same way that two seasons in England or France are going to, and then he could, if he still had international ambitions, move back to England and try to force his way into contention for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
There have been examples of European players going to and having success in Japan, albeit in short stints.
James Haskell spent a season with the Ricoh Black Rams, Geoff Parling played for the Munakata Sanix Blues and current Saracens lock Dom Day was a member of the Verblitz, whilst former Wales wing Shane Williams spent a few years with the Mitsubishi DynaBoars.
For Haskell and Parling, it was a bridge to stints in Super Rugby, whilst Williams was at the end of his career and setting himself up for retirement. For the most part, they didn’t head to Japan with the thought of long stays, but could Japan become a destination for players looking to maximise earnings and keep their bodies in better shape for a longer career?
There’s no reason to doubt it.
The upcoming Rugby World Cup will, hopefully, further embed the game in the country and increase support. That support isn’t too bad at the moment, either, with Verblitz boasting crowds in the high 20,000’s at times, although the competition had an average attendance this past season of just shy of 6,000. Whilst not the highest figure, that is an increase in average attendance of just over 1,000 in the last two years, which is encouraging growth for the competition.
With growing commercial interest from Japan in rugby, including potential acquisitions of player agencies and whispers of a Super Rugby-esque competition based in the country, it is a market whose growth could significantly accelerate in the coming years.
Whilst European markets will still more easily be able to hold their own, financially, in a battle against player drain than the southern hemisphere, it does offer a potentially beneficial path for rugby players in the Premiership, Top 14 and Guinness PRO14.
Watch: Kieran Read confirms a post-RWC deal with Toyota Verblitz
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments