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'No Japanese team wants to keep Australian players forever'
The chairman of Japan’s new rugby union competition says he supports a model where Australian players contracted to Japanese clubs will be made more readily available for Wallabies duties.
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The inaugural Japan Rugby League One, which replaces the Top League, will kick off on January 7.
JRLO chairman Genichi Tamatsuka has big plans for the league, including the potential for Japanese teams to be involved in a future cross-border competition with clubs from Australia, NZ or the Northern Hemisphere.
The big dollars on offer in Japan has resulted in a flurry of the world’s best players flocking to Japanese rugby in recent years.
That trend is expected to grow especially after the 2023 World Cup in France.
The quality of Japanese rugby has grown significantly, so much so Wallabies coach Dave Rennie had no qualms about plucking Japan-based Quade Cooper, Samu Kerev, and Sean McMahon to play for Australia this year.
The inclusion of Cooper during the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship campaign helped kick-start a rare five-match winning run for the Wallabies.
But Cooper, Kerevi and McMahon all pulled out of the Spring Tour after feeling they would be letting down their Japanese clubs if they went on tour instead of returning for pre-season training.
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Tamatsuka believes Japanese clubs will end up benefiting by letting their international players feature more often for their respective countries
“Each player has options and we respect the players’ choice,” Tamatsuka said.
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“If they should attend Wallabies games, we should support that. And them bringing back that experience to the league is really excellent.”
The Wallabies relaxed the foreign player eligibility rules this year as a stop-gap measure to deal with COVID-19 obstacles.
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It remains to be seen whether Rugby Australia will extend the policy through to the 2023 World Cup in France.
The issue of Japanese rugby luring some of the best Australian players from Super Rugby has been a big talking point for several years.
But Tamatsuka’s right-hand man at JRLO, Hajimi Shoji, believes the situation is beneficial in the global market and that eventually more Japanese players will return the favour by playing in Australia or other countries around the world.
“No Japanese team wants to keep Australian players forever,” Shoji said.
“Our view is firstly importing players in a flexible manner, and on that, Japanese players should be grown so we can export our players to other markets.
“Therefore I think this kind of flexible moving and coming is the key to mutual success.”
Wallabies speedster Marika Koroibete, former NRL star Blake Ferguson and Kiwis Aaron Cruden and Ben Smith are among the big-name players who will feature in JRLO.
– Justin Chadwick
Comments on RugbyPass
The Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
1 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
4 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
4 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
2 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to commentsTruely great player. In social media and opinion pieces he was held up and flogged for the results. People wanted someone to crucify, and he was the captain. He was still an immense presence respected by his peers. His battles with Siya Kolisi belong up with with Collins vs Burger in my opinion. Unlucky to be carded in the final, but I don’t agree that his red card was the defining moment. Not when you look at the dominant performances of the Springboks (PSDT in particular.) I think Cane should be remembered for the spirit and physicality that is special to test rugby.
16 Go to commentsSam was the man until he got injured .
16 Go to comments_Crusaders versus Leinster _at the moment might be a rout! But I would like to see the Blues play Toulouse, the Hurricanes front up against Stade Francais, and the Chiefs go against Toulon.
157 Go to commentsLove it when we overlap! Promise it was not forethought.
19 Go to commentsjfc can this guy plz stay out of the news for one week
2 Go to commentsIf stormers aren’t available. Based on form and likely availability at the time of the wales Test, you’d think Masuku would be a no-brainer to start. But starting Jordan also makes sense having Masuku come off the bench to close out the game.
2 Go to commentsGlad Tom Curry not playing needs time to recover such a great player also his brother Ben how well is he playing now .
1 Go to commentsLet’s examine what might be irking the brainless E: Up until 20 years before this coming Julys tests: 16 games: 14 wins for SA; 1 win for Ire; 1 draw From 20 years until July’ tests Ireland V SA: 13 matches Ireland won 8; SA won 4; 1 draw Points scored Ireland 261; SA 189 Ave Winning Margin: Ireland 11 points; SA 4 points (away 3, home 6) Away win record: Ireland 33.33%; SA 25% Neutral matches 1: Ireland win RWC France 2023. Last SA win June 2016 (8 years ago) They boast 3 World cups in that period (they do boast). The above record is not good, probably not much better than theirs against NZ for same period. That’s why the dopey E is starting fights in his head. He will probably ship a yellow when things don’t go their way in the first test.
127 Go to commentsGoode is like a wet fart on The Rugby Pod and should be shoved aside. Jim knows what he is on about and can get on better without Goode’s nasty little cheap shots.
127 Go to comments