Japan star Kazuki Himeno named Super Rugby Aotearoa Rookie of the Year
Japan star Kazuki Himeno has been named Super Rugby Aoteaora Rookie of the Year following an impressive debut campaign with the Highlanders this season.
The 26-year-old was voted the competition’s standout newcomer by a panel of writers from allblacks.com, beating out the likes of teammate Connor Garden-Bachop, Blues lock Sam Darry, Hurricanes playmaker Ruben Love and Chiefs utility forward Samipeni Finau for the award.
While Himeno previously played Super Rugby for the Sunwolves in 2018, the 17-test loose forward is eligible for the award on the basis that he was playing in his first season as a contracted New Zealand-based player.
The award comes after a series of compelling displays by Himeno, who was at the forefront of much of the Highlanders’ success this year, even if it that only came in the form of just three wins from eight matches.
Vigorous on attack and uncompromising on defence, Himeno showed many of the same traits that made him a star at the 2019 World Cup as part of the history-making Brave Blossoms squad that qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time ever.
A breakout performance against the Crusaders in the Highlanders’ 33-12 upset win over the reigning champions in Christchurch was followed by more eye-catching efforts against the Chiefs and Blues in Dunedin.
Himeno claims the award despite having missed the Highlanders’ first three matches of the competition due to his two-week quarantine upon his arrival in New Zealand from Japan, and then a subsequent lack of fitness as a result of his isolation.
Himeno’s efforts have been recognised by Japan head coach Jamie Joseph, who last month included him in a 52-man training squad to prepare for the British and Irish Lions in a warm-up clash in Edinburgh on June 26 ahead of their upcoming tour of South Africa.
The Highlanders, meanwhile, will kick-off the inaugural Super Rugby Trans-Tasman season against the Reds at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin next Friday.
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Ultimately it is the entire NZR board who should be sacked. Foster wants to be the ABs coach, you can't blame him for that. NZR appointed him in what was a terrible process for actually finding the right candidate, more of a coronation based on the false assumption of "continuity" - it was clear from the BIL tour in 2017 which direction the ABs were heading, continuing that seemed crazy by they decided to do it anyway. They then reappointed him before he had faced a true test before the NH tour of 2021 which was a disaster. They could have sacked him then. They could have sacked him after the Ireland series where it was clear the ABs were well of the pace. They could have done it after the tests in SA which despite being 1-1 were not in the least bit convincing. Basically they have backed the guy every year, but now in the lead up to the world cup they have decided he's definitely not the right guy, yet he remains the coach.
Go to comments"taking the land they felt had been stolen from them during the colonial era" the land had been stolen, and the requisitions were entirely justified. I'm very sorry that Negri's family were hurt but this article is basically just propaganda for apartheid.
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