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Report: Japanese executive pushing for Top League inclusion in new Southern Hemisphere competition
As the trans-Tasman war of words rages on between New Zealand and Australia over the future of a revamped Super Rugby competition, a Japanese executive has expressed his eagerness for Japan to stay involved in the Southern Hemisphere club game.
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The expulsion of the Sunwolves from Super Rugby beyond this year was expected to eradicate Japan from the SANZAAR competition, as the league prepared to revert to a 14-team, round-robin format in 2021.
The COVID-19 outbreak has forced a re-think about how Super Rugby’s future, however, with New Zealand and Australia set to join forces to form a new tournament.
Both countries have created makeshift domestic competitions featuring their respective franchises – and, in Australia’s case, the Western Force – but plans for a cross-border league between the two nations has sparked debate and controversy.
That’s New Zealand Rugby last week revealed plans for an eight-to-10 team competition to take place next year that would comprise of all five Kiwi franchises, a Pasifika team and between two-to-four Australian sides.
NZR said that the Australian teams would be invited to join the league, but a decision on how many sides from Australia would take part would be at the discretion of the Kiwi organisation based on factors including player numbers and welfare and financial strength.
Executives and pundits on the other side of the Tasman Sea, however, have been critical about the fact that there could be as few as two Australian teams in the proposed competition.
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Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has gone on to describe his organisation’s relationship with their Kiwi counterparts as that of a “master-servant” dynamic, while ex-RA boss John O’Neill has hit back at former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s claim that NZR doesn’t owe Australia anything.
Current All Blacks boss Ian Foster has also weighed into the debate, as have scribes from New Zealand, Australia and England, but the potential inclusion of Japanese teams is an aspect of the conversation that has seemingly flown under the radar.
An English rugby writer has fired a few shots at New Zealand Rugby over the attitude towards including Australia in a potential new competition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.https://t.co/I9PK9ROyow
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 20, 2020
However, Japan Rugby Football Union director Yuichiro Fujii is looking capitalise on the re-structure of Super Rugby as part of his task of strengthening the Brave Blossoms ahead of their 2023 World Cup campaign.
Fujii believes that Japan’s top clubs must compete against the best teams in the Southern Hemisphere if the national side is to enjoy the kind of success they found at last year’s World Cup, where they finished as quarter-finalists for the first time ever.
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“It will improve the level and value of the domestic league and gain us international experience,” Fujii said, according to Kyodo News.
Despite their on-field struggles against teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, the addition of the Sunwolves into Super Rugby in 2016 was credited as part of the reason behind Japan’s success at the 2019 World Cup.
Although the Tokyo-based franchise have since dissipated, Fujii is hopeful of exposing the best teams from Japan’s star-studded Top League to the best from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.
Backed by national coach Jamie Joseph, Fujii will present his plans for Japanese involvement with teams from the Southern Hemisphere to the JRFU.
Kyodo News said a potential format could see the Top League champions and another squad made up of players from around the league – similar to that of the Sunwolves – take part in a new competition.
Fujii said the July international window would need to be moved to autumn – potentially in place of the Rugby Championship, which has been the subject of being re-scheduled to March and April – to free up room on the calendar for such a league.
“If it’s held in June and July, it wouldn’t overlap with either the Top League or national team activities,” he said.
The Top League has proven to be a popular destination for players from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa looking to ply their trade abroad.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 season, but new signings for that campaign included Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Malcolm Marx, Samu Kerevi, Damien de Allende, Bernard Foley, Christian Lealiifano, Duane Vermeulen, Matt Todd, David Pocock, Liam Squire, Kwagga Smith and Ryan Crotty, to name a few.
Other foreign stars, such as Dan Carter and Matt Giteau, were already playing in Japan’s premier club competition, while members of the successful Japanese World Cup squad feature prominently throughout the league.
All Blacks playmaker and two-time World Rugby Player of the Year Beauden Barrett is the latest overseas star to join the Top League ranks, as he will link up with Suntory Sungoliath next year on a six-month sabbatical deal reportedly worth NZ$1.5m.
Comments on RugbyPass
He never stops whinging. No wonder he is always chasing the next big dream.
1 Go to commentsI always enjoy a good scrum based article. Thanks, Nick. The Hurricanes are looking more and more the team to beat down here in Australasia. They are a very well balanced team. And though there are far fewer scrums in the game these days, destructive power in that area is a serious weapon, especially an attacking scrum within in the red zone. Aumua looked very good as a young first year player, but then seemed to fade. He sure is back now right in the picture for the AB’s. And I would judge that Taukei’aho is in a bit of a slump currently. Watching him at Suncorp a few weeks ago, I thought he was not as dominant in the game as I would have expected. I am going to raise an issue in that scrum at around the 13 min mark. I see a high level of danger there for the TH lifted off the ground. He is trapped between the opposition LH and his own powerful SR. His neck is being put under potentially dangerous pressure. The LH has, in law , no right to use his superior scrummaging skill….getting his head right in on the breastbone of the TH…..to force him up and off the ground. Had the TH popped out of the scrum, head up and free, there is no danger, that is a clear penalty to the dominant scrum. The law is quite clear on this issue: Law 37 Dangerous play and restricted practices in a scrum. C:Intentionally lifting an opponent off their feet or forcing them upwards out of the scrum. Sanction: Penalty. Few ,if any, referees seem to be aware of this law, and/or the dangers of the situation. Matthew Carly, refereeing Clermont v Munster in 2021, penalised the Munster scrum, when LH Wycherly was lifted very high, and in my view very dangerously, by TH Slimani. Lifting was coached in the late ‘60’s/70’s. Both Lions props, Ray McLouglin, and “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlan, were expert and highly successful at this technique. I have seen a photo, which I can’t find online atm, of MM with a NZ TH(not an AB) on his head, MM standing upright as the scrum disintegrates.
3 Go to commentsHey. Stay home and play for Mooloo.
1 Go to commentsTighthead was always going to be our weakness this year with Ryan going home to Ireland and the Cashed Up Blues taking a third All Black prop from us - nobody else in SR does that. Numia is the exciting one. He used to be a lightweight but he's really improved. Do you have stats on the All Black hookers’ lineouts for the game? I seem to remember a few misses.
3 Go to commentsFergus Burke isn't tier 1 player quality…but guess what, he'll be playing amongst them for Saracens…. all going well and Steve Borthwick is still the head coach, England...Scott Robertson’s hint of amending NZRU’s offshore AB eligibility clause, would mean that players like Josh Moorby who show potential might get a call…
4 Go to commentsThe movement of quality players back to SA is remarkable.
2 Go to commentsInteresting article, Nic. Am enjoying seeing the Rebels doing well, partly just to spite those who are working to wipe them off the face of the Australian rugby planet. But it is also good to see a team with somany good players beginning fire. LSL has benefitted so much from his move up to Northampton for the one year. I wonder why he did not stay on for another year. Does he now looks north and see his teammates of last year now doing so well, and have some regrets.
49 Go to comments“Over 80% of the World Cup squad are over 30” No it isn’t lol
2 Go to commentsTyrel Lomax the best AB prop since Carl Hayman. Absolutely destroyed the Boks in RWC Final and is monstering allcomers in Super this season. Should be a monster battle vs touring Poms, always deliver a power pack.
3 Go to commentsEye gouging seems like such a strong term for what can only be described as a poke in the eye. When I think of eye gouging I think of someone trying to intentionally pop someone’s eyeball out. it’s like calling a high-tackle attempted decapitation.
3 Go to commentsGreat article. No insights to add, just wanted to say that. :)
1 Go to commentsLeinster are going to win the world cup.
13 Go to commentsSuper Rugby desperately needs to lose at least 2, but up to 4 teams. Rebels quietly going bankrupt would have made that a bit easier. Teams like the Rebels and Force serve only to weaken Australian Rugby and Super Rugby more widely. In 13 years in the comp the Rebels are yet to win more games than they lose in a season, have never finished in the top half of the competition, and have come dead last a number of times. The Western Force, barring a brief stint of mediocrity under John Mitchell from 2007-2009 have been even worse. Sadly it’s hard to see a future for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. Likewise I think the writing is on the wall for the Highlanders, it’s hard to see how NZ rugby can continue to support 5 SR teams, and population distribution suggests one team in the south island would make the most sense.
49 Go to commentsNice that Connor Evans is happy to stay on here, that JD Schikerling is returning and Steven Kitshoff. Dobbo is careful to bring back just anybody but having a new financial lease of life, it has made the Stormers a more attractive club. On top of being good quality, having the financial backing helps a lot
1 Go to commentsEngland-qualified too, I believe.
1 Go to commentsThis might turn out to be emblematic of a real issue in Irish rugby. Ireland have one of the best -if not the best - senior sides in the world, and one of the best under 20s sides as well, but don’t seem to be giving graduating under20s players many opportunities to break through into URC starting lineups. There is a risk that a lot of the junior talent they are developing will either be wasted, or lost to other nations.
1 Go to commentsYou ask good questions, Nick. The group who have put together the proposal to play out of Tarneit and participate in the growing of the ground’s capacity are not a bunch of white knights who have been dragged in post-crisis; they were around whilst the Rebels accummulated $23m in debt. Why do we come up with ideas that might make the franchise affordable after it’s broke and not when it might have prevented the trainwreck this offseason was? As for Gordon/Kellaway v Lolesio/Wright, they are both good options. I think the former are better rugby players but the goal kicking of Noah may be decisive when Schmiddy makes his choices. I know Harry Jones has the hots for Edmed but I think it’s one of his few poor choices and he and Jorgensen aren’t close to the other pairs. By coincidence, the wife and I went into town over the weekend to watch Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Beautifully acted but it was 3.5 hours in the chair and very hard work. Like the Rebels, there were only small bursts of joy to go with a lot of bad news and a depressing story line. In the end, I was hoping it would end and I could give my sore butt a break. Again, familiar.
49 Go to commentsGood decision, very good player but not international quality. But so was Jamison Gibson Park …..
4 Go to commentsLoose forwards always look good going forward and winning. It’s the same loose forwards for the Crusaders and the Canes this year as last year. Too much of the shiny new things getting noticed here while older consistent ones getting bagged. It’s early days. Calm the farm.
8 Go to commentsThanks Nick, and on the money. We tend to be apathetic until something REALLY BAD happens, then we aren't! At least this applies to the Reb players and coach, if not the spectators. They seem to be getting very quick ball at times. Have they altered something, or is it just all of the skills coming together at the right time? It seems almost the opposite of the Reds, who started the season with quick ball, but haven't been showing that in the last 3 losing games. Is it attitude (McDermott hasn't looked “right” to me for 3 weeks), or something else?
49 Go to comments