Opening weekend of League One highlights big issue for Japan
Japan’s premier club rugby competition has always attracted its fair share of foreign talent, with the likes of former All Blacks Eroni Clarke, Glen Osborne, John Kirwan and Joe Stanley all spending periods of their careers representing sides in Japan. The number of international stars in the league now dwarves the smattering of semi-retired players that were once scattered amongst the teams, however, with over 40 foreign players featuring in the four games that made up the inaugural weekend of the rebranded League One competition.
That’s not a problem in itself. In fact, many trumpet the vast legions of foreign players as one of the selling points for the Japanese competition, with fans from around the world able to tune in and likely catch a glimpse of at least one or two expats from their own country plying their trade in the Land of the Rising Sun.
It’s not hugely dissimilar to France’s Top 14 competition in the early to mid-2000s, when swathes of Southern Hemisphere stars nearing the end of their professional careers headed north to bank a nice paycheck and spend some well-earned time in Europe.
The major difference between France and Japan, at least in rugby terms, is that France are very much a developed superpower who can beat anyone on their day. They have proven professional pathways and their age-grade systems are only getting stronger, as shown by the number of former Under 20s stars populating the current magnificent team. Japan, on the other hand, are still just developing as a rugby nation and while they’ll likely find a home in the Rugby Championship in the near future, they’ve still got a long way to go before they reach the heights of France.
There’s also a nagging fear that the crop of Japanese players that took the World Cup by storm in 2019 were once-in-a-generation talents. The Brave Blossoms were relatively easily swept away by their opposition in 2021 and men such as Michael Leitch, Yu Tamura and Kenki Fukuoka won’t be quite as threatening in 2023 – if they make it to the tournament at all.
As such, the importance of League One developing the next generation of players can’t be overstated and while the swathes of foreign stars should bring up the overall standard of the league and hopefully fast-track some local Japanese players’ development, those young players are going to have fewer opportunities for game time.
With 10 teams in the top division, that shouldn’t necessarily be a major concern, as there are still ample spots available for local up-and-comers, but there’s certainly one position that should be a concern for national coach Jamie Joseph, based on the opening weekend of the competition.
With two of the six scheduled games cancelled due to Covid, there were eight sides on display over the opening round and sixteen starting second-rowers. Of those starting second-rowers, just five were born in Japan.
Nakajima Shingo, Yoshiya Hosoda and Daiki Yanagawa started for the Shining Arcs, Green Rockets and Black Rams respectively while Yuta Kojima and Tatsuna Fujita partnered up for the Red Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, New Zealander-born players Jimmy Tupou, Warner Dearns, Jacob Pierce, Daymon Leasuasua and Hendrik Tui all earned starts, as did Wales internationals Jake Ball and Cory Hill, and Australia’s Harry Hockings, South African’s JD Schikerling, Tonga’s Amanaki Saumaki and Korea’s Seok-Hwan Jang.
Quade Cooper's Kintetsu Liners failed to get their Japan Rugby League One campaign off to a victorious start after they were beaten by the Mitsubishi Dynaboars on Monday. #JapanRugbyLeagueOne https://t.co/RSUZnsFECf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 10, 2022
Of course, the world is a fluid place and where a player is born is not always the be-all and end-all when it comes to where their international allegiance lies. Tui moved to Japan for university and has been an ever-present member of the Japanese national side since 2012 while Dearns has followed a similar path, making his test debut in November.
The already-capped trio of Ball, Hill and Jang aside, the remaining foreign locks that featured in the opening round of League One could all theoretically represent Japan in the future – but that’s certainly not the ideal ‘development pathway’ for the national side of a team with top-level aspirations. The fact that it takes five years for foreign players to become eligible via residence makes this an even more fraught strategy.
The problem lies in the fact that foreign second-rowers tend to naturally have a physical advantage over their Japanese counterparts and League One clubs with title aspirations know they’ll have a significant advantage over their opposition if they can bring in some big bodies at lineout time.
There are certain restrictions in place in the competition which limits the number of foreign players in a matchday squad, but the JRFU hasn’t extended those restrictions to any positions, which means teams are better served by loading up their forward pack, where the bigger sized bodies are likely to have the biggest impact – and that could have long-term consequences on the national side.
With all 10 teams playing each week, the problem is less severe. Young Japan-eligible locks should still have opportunities to earn some minutes and develop their play to the point where, when the national side is in need of more cattle, they’re ready to step up to the mark. With international teammates and international opposition, they could also theoretically have their development fast-tracked.
Ultimately, however, the prominence of foreign second-rowers in Japan’s new League One competition probably highlights the lack of talent coming through in the position for the nation and could give national coach Jamie Joseph some cause for concern.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments