RiJ Vol.4 No.47

November 20, 2007

Contact: Ian McDonnell all.4.one@hotmail.com

Rugby in Japan

Newsletter

Contents

· 2007~8 Top League Round 4

Ø RiJ Match of the Round: NEC 57 d Mitsubishi 34

Ø Round 4 Results

Ø Table

· Top League Team Profiles 2007~8 - (3) Yamaha

· Bits & Pieces

Ø IRB Rankings – 18^th

Ø Jamie Joseph

Ø Card Barometer

· This Time…

The fourth round of Top League (TL) took place over the weekend of 17~18 November 2007 with a full round of seven games. Full details are listed below in a round preview as well as wrap-up. The latest table is also posted and as match of the round RiJ went along to report on the NEC-Mitsubishi clash. Suffice it to say, the Sanix 7-5 win over Yamaha was the result that caught most attention on Sunday evening. There is a bye next weekend with round 5 set down for the first weekend in December. RiJ profiles the Yamaha Jubilo club this issue. In Bits & Pieces, former Cherry Blossom and AB backrower, Jamie Joseph gets a mention. RiJ finishes with This Time….

Enjoy the read!

Top League Round 4

RiJ Match of the Round

NEC 57 (Ts: Semisi Saukawa 2, Koshiro Shuto 2, Tsutomu Sakuraya, Takuro Miuchi, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Ken Hidaka, Hidefumi Yamamoto; Cs: Takeshi Matsuo 6) d

Mitsubishi 34 (Ts: Nick Collins 2, Katsuhiko Shoda 2, Masashi Iwakura; Cs: Shoda 3; P: Shoda)

Kashiwa no Ha Stadium, Kashiwa city, Chiba prefecture.

Kick-off: 13:00.

Attendance: 4,149.

Referee: Kyosuke Toda.

Halftime: NEC 33 – Mitsubishi 3.

NEC: 1- Hisadomi, 2- Mizuyama, 3- Saito, 4- Asano (c), 5- Sato, 6- Saukawa, 7- Ohigashi, 8- Miuchi, 9- Tsuji, 10- van der Westhuyzen, 11- Shuto, 12- Sakuraya, 13- Mizuta, 14- Hidefumi Yamamoto,15- Matsuo, 16- Takaharu Yamamoto, 17- Kataoka, 18- Yasuda, 19- Hidaka, 20- Nishida, 21- Lowen and 22- Hyakumura.

Mitsubishi: 1- Nakamura, 2- Sugimoto, 3- Tsukahara, 4- Wada, 5- Takahashi, 6- Sato (c), 7- Kaizuka, 8- Urlich, 9- Shoda, 10- Yasui, 11- Iwakura, 12- Toyoyama, 13- Collins, 14- Misu,15- Nitta, 16- Kodama, 17- Yamaguchi, 18- Alex Nakagawa, 19- Kasprowicz, 20- Shibamoto, 21- Abe and 22- Fukuchi.

Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season in perfect conditions for open rugby, NEC put on a fine first half display to score five tries and lead Mitsubishi 33-3 at the break. The second half, however, was another story with Mitsubishi scoring five tries of their own to win the half 31-24 and earn themselves a bonus point for scoring more than four tries. Unfortunately for the visitors, the first half deficit proved too much and NEC ran out handsome 57-34 winners in a high scoring match that produced 14 tries.

NEC were fielding a weakened side with five-eighth Eiji Ando, flankers Glen Marsh and Nili Latu, lock Takanori Kumagae, wing Koichiro Kubota and fullback Keiji Takei all on the sidelines. With the absence of this number of senior players it was left to team captain Ryota Asano playing in the second row, Fijian international flanker Semisi Saukawa and Japan captain and No8 Takuro Miuchi to lead the way in the forwards while Springbok Jaco van der Westhuyzen directed traffic from the No10 position with good service from veteran halfback Takashi Tsuji.

NEC stuttered through the first 20 minutes of the game after Mitsubishi opened the scoring with a penalty to left foot halfback Katsuhiko Shoda in the second minute of play. The NEC forwards got the Green Rockets on the scoreboard soon after with a rolling maul try to Saukawa. In the 24^th minute NEC left wing Koshiro Shuto scooted around some poor defence along the left hand flank for the first of his two tries and this seemed to spur NEC into action. Further first half tries followed to Saukawa, who also brought up a double, inside centre Tsutomu Sakuraya after some excellent team build up work and Miuchi on the stroke of halftime from another rolling maul. NEC led at the break 33-3 and already had the four try bonus point in the bag.

The second half produced a dramatic turnaround from the Mitsubishi Dynaboars, inspired by diminutive halfback Shoda who ran in tries in the 13^th and 21^st minutes after former NZ sevens player Nick Collins scored in the 6^th minute. In between times NEC were also adding to their tally to keep the game well and truly out of reach of their opponents. Jaco bullied his way to the line not long after the resumption of play for the second forty minutes while replacement forward Ken Hidaka also scored.

When Collins crossed for his double and the fourth Mitsubishi try in the 29^th minute there was a loud cheer from the large contingent of Mitsubishi fans in the stands. The try brought up the four try bonus point and the first competition point for the cellar dwellers in their first year in Top League.

Right wing Hidefumi Yamamoto and left wing Shuto crossed again for NEC to complete the try-fest with the latter also collecting a pair. At the death, Mitsubishi left wing Masashi Iwakura also got on the scoresheet with a try to close out play. When referee Kyosuke Toda blew fulltime NEC had run out victors over Mitsubishi to the tune of 57-34.

Post match, NEC coach Tadashi Hosoya was happy with the set pieces and the work of the forwards in the first half but on the second half he said, “Our defence broke down at times and we let in some easy tries.” He also commented that his team needed to rest up and then prepare for the big round five game against Kubota up in Nagano prefecture in two weeks time.

NEC captain, Ryota Asano thanked the Kashiwa crowd for their home game support but also stated the obvious when he said they had to go away and work on their defence.

Mitsubishi coach, Namio Sagara also thanked the fans who travelled up from Kanagawa for the game. At 33-3 down at halftime he instructed his players to put the first 40 minutes behind them, go out and be more aggressive and aim for the four try bonus point. A goal his side achieved.

Captain Kyosuke Sato echoed the sentiments of his coach when he said, “At halftime we were down by a lot but we turned it around in the second half and got the bonus point.” Given the extent that Mitsubishi has struggled in Top League, Sato pointed out that the overall level was much higher than regional leagues, but that it was still great to be in the top division.

Prior to the NEC-Mitsubishi match, the Chiba prefectural rounds of the 2007~8 Suntory Cup Tag Rugby for primary school aged children took place. Kashiwa Issho Tokkotai won the honours on the day with captain Rintaro Aizawa vowing that his team would give it their best shot at the next level at the northern Kanto tournament.

Top League Round 4 Preview

A full round of seven games is scheduled for the weekend of 17~18 November 2007 across six different venues around some picturesque parts of the country. There are three games on Saturday in Niigata city in Niigata prefecture, Yokohama in Kanagawa and in Naruto city in north-eastern Tokushima prefecture on the island of Shikoku. On Sunday games are to be played in Ota city in Gunma, Kashiwa city in Chiba and a double-header in Miyazaki city in Miyazaki prefecture on the island of Kyushu.

On Saturday, Kubota has another crunch game against front-runners Kobe at the Big Swan Niigata Stadium. With 3 losses from 3 starts to kick off their season every game from now on is going to be a crunch game for Kubota. The Kubota Spears are sitting in second to last place on the table with only a single bonus point to show for their efforts. On the other hand, Kobe is sitting alone on the top of the table on 15 points and as such, they will be well motivated to go into this game with the aim of taking the full five points to stay on top of the pyramid for another week. Kubota put in an improved performance in the pouring rain at Chichibu last Saturday night but still went down 14-7 to Yamaha. Conditions look fine for this weekend and the spears will be looking to get former Brumbies fullback Damian McInally well involved in the game. Kubota will be wearing their alternate strip for the match which is orange rather than the usual blue and so the club is asking fans to come dressed in orange colours. Both clubs will also be selling T-shirts for \1500 with the proceeds going to the Niigata Earthquake Relief Fund. Although Kobe had an easy 54-7 win over Mitsubishi last game, they looked anything but unbeatable. However, it is doubtful if Kubota has what it takes to knock the Steelers of their perch. Kobe by 15.

At the Mitsuzawa Stadium in Yokohama, Suntory plays Ricoh. Suntory came into this season as favourites to take out the title and this was enhanced when they beat reigning champions Toshiba 10-3 in the opening game of the season. However, the bubble was well and truly burst last week when they allowed Coca-Cola to steal the game 23-22. Without Ryan Nicholas or Jack Tarrant punching holes in the midfield Suntory looked soft where it mattered last time round, though the latter should be back for the Ricoh game. Ricoh scrounged a win over IBM in the wet in round one, but then went down to Toshiba and Sanyo. Things do not get any better this week for the Ricoh Black Rams who may well be hoping to run what ever ball they can get in order to earn a four try BP. Suntory will be selling soft toy replica mascots signed by the players for \1500 along with the official Suntory 2007~8 Yearbook for \1000. Suntory by 30.

The final Saturday game is between Toyota and Kyuden at the Otsuka Sports Park in Naruto, Tokushima. Toyota is in a cluster of 3 teams on 11 points near the top of the table and has to secure this must-win game against Kyuden to stay in this group. Toyota lost to Yamaha in round one then cleaned up Mitsubishi and IBM. They will have to maintain their concentration for the full 80 minutes this game and if they do then 5 competition points are there for the taking against the new boys. Kyuden has surprised some pundits with their level of commitment and competitiveness in their first season in TL. After beating Mitsubishi in the first round they pushed Kobe and NEC all the way. Kyuden should again prove to be worthy foe in the first half at least, but it is in the second half that the real pressure will come. Kyuden is also putting on a Kids’ Day for the fans with lots of giveaways. Toyota by a Shikoku country mile.

On Sunday, Coca-Cola stays on base in Kyushu to confront heavy weights Toshiba at in Miyazaki. Coke will be chuffed after their huge come-from-behind upset over Suntory last round but it will take a miracle for the Shogo Mukai coached team to do it two weeks in a row. Toshiba will not be travelling down to Kyushu for a surfing holiday but instead will be out to give Coke a serious reality check. After three rounds both sides have two wins and a loss, while Toshiba is in 5^th spot on 11 points, Coke is in 6^th on 9 points. There is bound to be more space between them on the table by late Sunday afternoon. Last year Toshiba beat Coke 50-14 in the latter’s first year in TL. Expect a similar score this year.

In the second game in Miyazaki, Kyushu based Sanix is also on home soil for the battle with Yamaha. Sanix has organised supporter buses from Hakata to Miyazaki and return for \4000 for adults and \3000 for children. Yamaha has 2 wins and a loss for their season to date with a reassuring win over Kubota last Saturday night in the rain in Tokyo. Sanix should not present any major challenges for Yamaha but Jubilo will want to get their midfield into a higher gear against what should prove to be an easy opposition. At this stage in the season, Yamaha second five Shotaro Onishi is the leading point scorer on 39 from 2 tries, 4 conversions and 7 penalties. He will surely be hoping to improve his tally against the Blues. Sanix tried hard in the wet against Toshiba last Saturday but in the end were outclassed. Wet or dry, the same thing should happen again this week. However, Sanix beat Yamaha in a trial game in September 22-7 and so the Blues will be hoping to build on this result. Yamaha by 25.

Sanyo is at home again at the Ota City Sports Park in Gunma where they host IBM. To make the most of the home game, Sanyo has also organised a Hospitality Day at the ground starting from 9:30. Various events for kids will take place and the team will have a booth selling official team goods. Along with Kobe, Sanyo is the only other unbeaten side and they will be looking to maintain the momentum against IBM. Sanyo sits in second spot on the table with 14 points just one behind Kobe and three ahead of Toyota, Suntory and Toshiba. Thus, Sanyo should have the motivation to win and win well to keep ahead of the trailing bunch. Sanyo has scored the most tries after 3 rounds with 20 and surprisingly the team also has hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto as the league’s leading try scorer with five tries. Wing Tomoki Kitagawa was the try scoring king of TL last season with 19 tries but his hooker is throwing down a challenge this year. IBM has not won a match yet, but three BPs keep them two places from the bottom of the table. Their first win of the season looks highly unlikely this week too as winless IBM takes on Sanyo who have not lost yet, so another week in the cellar is the most probable outcome. Although the game will not be shown on J-Sports TV, local Gunma TV is recording the match to be aired on Monday night. Last year’s 73-10 score line in favour of Sanyo is another foreboding sign of things to come.

NEC is using the game against Mitsubishi at the Kashiwa no Ha Stadium in north-western Chiba prefecture as a home game. The gates open at 11 o’clock and NEC are organising food stalls and various events to attract supporters. The Green Rockets are based in the NEC factory facilities at Abiko not far from Kashiwa and they will be trying their best to drum up local support to get behind them. Local support or not, NEC should find plenty of time to smell the grass and enjoy the afternoon as Mitsubishi are not likely to be within 50 points when the fat lady sings. NEC has 2 wins and one loss after beating Kyuden 38-22 last weekend in Morioka in the other end of the country. The NEC Second XV ran around on Sunday against a Kyuden XV in a TL satellite game at the NEC ground in Abiko coming away 47-5 winners. Unless a serious bout of travel fatigue sets in, NEC will romp home this week. After only 3 games winless Mitsubishi is cemented to the bottom of the table and already has a points differential of -118 that is set to spiral out of control as the season progresses. NEC by 50.

Round 4 Wrap-up

Saturday	17 November	14:00	Kubota (BP2 = 1)	21-28	Kobe (4 + BP1 = 5)	Niigata
		14:00	Ricoh (BP1 = 1)	22-43	Suntory (4 + BP1 = 5)	Mitsuzawa, Kanagawa
		14:00	Kyuden (BP1 = 1)	22-27	Toyota (4 + BP1 = 5)	Tokushima
Sunday	18 November	12:00	Coca-Cola (0)	16-43	Toshiba (4 + BP1 = 5)	Miyazaki
		13:00	Sanyo (4 + BP1 = 5)	57-21	IBM (0)	Ota, Gunma
		13:00	NEC (4 + BP1 = 5)	57-34	Mitsubishi (BP1 = 1)	Kashiwa, Chiba
		14:00	Sanix (4)	7-5	Yamaha (BP2 = 1)	Miyazaki

On Saturday, Kubota lost another crunch game 28-21 against front-runners Kobe at the Big Swan Niigata Stadium. With 4 losses from 4 starts to kick off their season every game from now on is going to be a crunch game for Kubota. The Kubota Spears are still sitting in second to last place on the table after picking up another bonus point for their efforts. On the other hand, Kobe is sitting alone on the top of the table on 20 points after taking five points to stay on top of the pyramid for another week. After trailing Kobe 14-11 at the break, Kubota are getting closer to a win, but yellow cards to Toutai Kefu and Damian McInally hurt the cause with the score see-sawing throughout the match.

In Yokohama, Suntory beat Ricoh 43-22. With Jack Tarrant back in the side this week and punching holes in the midfield Suntory looked a far different team this time round. Suntory got off to a flying start and Ricoh were slow to respond with Sungoliath scoring 5 first half tires to lead 31-5 at the break. By that stage the game was gone and all Ricoh could hope to salvage was a BP. Ricoh scrounged well in the second forty winning the half 17-12 and picking up that valuable point in the process. Yoshinori Sogabe game on at No10 for Suntory for the final 25 minutes of the game and scored a try in the dying moments of the contest. Referee George Ayoub also sent one player from either side to the bin during the match.

The final Saturday game was between Toyota and Kyuden in Tokushima. Toyota stay near the top of the table with this 27-22 bonus point win against a resilient Kyuden, maintaining their concentration for the full 80 minutes to come away with 5 competition points. Kyuden has surprised some pundits with their level of commitment and competitiveness in their first season in TL and they did the same against Toyota. However, Kyuden gave away too much of a start when they allowed Toyota to take a 22-5 lead into the break. Kyuden scrambled in the second half and at one point got as close as 19-22 on the scoreboard eventually winning the half 17-5 earning a losing BP along the way.

On Sunday, Coca-Cola went down 16-43 to heavy weights Toshiba in Miyazaki. Strong wind played havoc throughout the game restricting the halftime lead for Toshiba to 12-6. however, the second half was another story with the Brave Lupus running with the wind at their backs. Toshiba ran in another five tries against a tiring defence to guarantee the BP. Last year Toshiba beat Coke 50-14 in the latter’s first year in TL. Toshiba scored 7 tries this time with Nick Holten changing between lock and No8, inside centre Nataniela Oto and fullback Tsutomu Matsuda all picking up doubles. Ben Jones again came on at fullback for the second half for Coke, but this time there was to be no grandstand finish.

In the second game in Miyazaki, Kyushu based Sanix was also on home soil to beat Yamaha 7-5. There must have been something in the water as Sanix bounced back to cause the upset of the round. In a low scoring game each side scored one try apiece with the Sanix conversion to fullback and captain Ryuji Koga proving the difference. For Yamaha, inside centre Shotaro Onishi missed the conversion and then a penalty on the hour mark to see his team go down by two points. The loss is devastating for Jubilo who are now in fear of losing touch with the leading bunch of teams. The second half went scoreless with the halftime score also being the fulltime score.

Sanyo was at home again at the Ota City Sports Park in Gunma where they beat IBM 57-21 to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Along with Kobe, Sanyo is the only other unbeaten side after four rounds with the two sides facing off in the next round after the break next weekend. Sanyo sits in second spot on the table with 19 points just one behind Kobe and three ahead of Toyota, Suntory and Toshiba. Sanyo hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto scored another two tires to go with the five others he has already scored this season and he is showing his backs how to get across the line. In total, Sanyo scored nine tries to three in an afternoon that kept the scorekeeper well and truly busy. IBM has not won a match yet, with only a few BPs keeping them two places from the bottom of the table. IBM was comprehensibly beaten and as much as they tried against Sanyo just could not find that last try to give them another BP. Those small points are going to be vital later on in the season as already IBM and Mitsubishi are shaping up as the teams to be automatically relegated for finishing in the last two spots on the table.

At both ends of the table there are no great changes. Kobe and Sanyo are still unbeaten on top with the latter trailing by one point. However, this will all be sorted out next round when they meet in Okayama. At the bottom end, IBM, Kubota and Mitsubishi are still winless though Kubota looks the most likely to climb out of the cellar when they can get some wins over weaker sides. Unfortunately, the smart money is already on the other two teams getting the boot at the end of the season. Coca-Cola and Kyuden are continuing their slow descent through the table to perhaps where they should be. Suntory, Toyota, Toshiba and NEC all have three wins and one loss, while Yamaha, Coke and Sanix are stuck in no man’s land with two and two. Kyuden and Ricoh are starting to struggle with one win for three loses.

2007~8 Top League Table

	Team	P	W	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts.
1	Kobe	4	4	0	151	80	71	4	-	20
2	Sanyo	4	4	0	187	42	145	3	-	19
3	Suntory	4	3	1	127	61	66	3	1	16
4	Toyota	4	3	1	143	88	55	3	1	16
5	Toshiba	4	3	1	114	62	52	3	1	16
6	NEC	4	3	1	139	111	28	2	-	14
7	Yamaha	4	2	2	64	57	7	0	2	10
8	Coca-Cola	4	2	2	77	95	-18	-	1	9
9	Sanix	4	2	2	41	118	-77	-	-	8
10	Kyuden	4	1	3	112	113	-1	2	1	7
11	Ricoh	4	1	3	65	125	-60	1	-	5
12	IBM	4	0	4	67	155	-88	1	2	3
13	Kubota	4	0	4	47	86	-39	-	2	2
14	Mitsubishi	4	0	4	66	207	-141	1	-	1

Four points for win, two for draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2).

Top League Profiles 2007-8

(3) Yamaha Jubilo

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/rugby/

Established: Yamaha is relatively new on the corporate Rugby scene in Japan having only been set up in 1984 and are as yet to win a major title. Yamaha are based in Shizuoka prefecture a few hours west of Tokyo. The team slogan for 2007~8 is “Relentless”. Yamaha also supports a soccer team with the same name of Jubilo with a lot of facilities, including the Iwata ground shared. The Jubilo part of the name comes from Spanish/Portuguese, meaning ‘jubilation’ and is intended to convey the meaning of bringing joy to the Yamaha fans and leaving a lasting impression of jubilation, or so the official story goes!

The Company: motor vehicles, in particular motorbikes. Furthermore, Yamaha is a major manufacturer of marine craft and products such as fishing and cruising boats, yachts, outboard motors, diesel motors for boats and jet skis.

Titles:

National Championships – none;

2007 (8 teams): beat KGU 53-14 in round 2 and lost to Toshiba 10-47 in SF.

2006 (8 teams): DNQ as only top 4 TL teams qualified.

2005 (8 teams): qualified as second seed, but knocked out in SFs by eventual champions NEC 13-24.

2004 (22 teams): beat World 36-20 in quarters, but lost to eventual champions Toshiba in SFs 12-33.

Corporate Champions – none;

Top League

2006-7: third on table on 48 points with 10 wins, a draw and 2 losses.

2005-6: seventh on 28 points with 5 wins and 6 losses.

2004-5: second on 45 points with 9 wins and 2 losses.

2003-4: third on 39 points with 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss.

Microsoft Cup

2007: lost to Suntory 39-40 in SF. From 2007 the Microsoft Cup acted as the finals series to determine the overall Top League champion. The top four finishers in Top League progressed to the Microsoft Cup.

2006: knocked out by Suntory 17-35 in first round. (Independent knock-out tournament for top 8 finishers in TL for 2004~6)

2005: Runners-up. Beat Kubota 38-33 in first round. Beat Toyota in semi after match drawn 33-all at fulltime & both captains drew straws! Lost 6-20 to Toshiba in final.

2004: knocked out by Toshiba 10-39 in first round.

Colours: Yamaha wear a light blue jersey with darker blue flashes, navy shorts & socks. The alternate strip uses a white jersey.

Style of Play: Yamaha finished high on the table in the first 2 TL seasons but dropped to seventh the next season before finishing third last season. Yamaha has a relatively settled side on the field, though there has been a recent history of changes in coaching personnel. Grant Batty cut his ties with the club after only one season with Jun Sano taking on the head coach job last year. Batty, who took Yamaha to second place was set to start a second year but departed suddenly for personal reasons. This thrust Sano into the position and the club seemed to lose the momentum it had under Batty. Last year, Takanobu Horikawa (34) was the outward face of the coaching team, while former All Black Kevin Schuler (40) re-joined his old club as overall coach. This year, the Horikawa-Schuler partnership is again in operation and this will create further stability in the club.

Over the previous four seasons of TL Yamaha has based its forward play largely around an all Japanese pack with captain Hajime Kiso at No8 and tighthead prop Ryo Yamamura leading the way. However, like most major teams these days they have bulked up the back row with foreign players. In this case, Tongan Jeoffery Maka and Fijian Deryck Thomas. Likewise, over the early years of TL Yamaha based their backline around playmakers Leon McDonald, Nathan Williams and Brendan Laney. However, these players are no longer with the club and the playmaking responsibilities are falling to Tatsuhiko Otao and Shotaro Onishi this season. These are big boots to fill and the success or otherwise of the season will rest on their shoulders.

In the early summer, Yamaha headed to the Sugadaira highlands in the mountains of Nagano for some practice against university outfits. Yamaha then travelled south to NZ for a 2-week camp over September and October. They played three games in total against physical local sides including Bay of Plenty. At the end of the summer, Yamaha played a number of final warm-up games in their local area against such teams as Sanix and Suntory.

Players to Watch: Prominent players in the forwards are captain and line out man Hajime Kiso, and test props Shigeyasu Takagi and Ryo Yamamura. Tongan enforcer Jeoffery Maka will also be out to make an impression. In the backs Yamaha has lost Brendan Laney, Nathan Williams and Fijian Marika Vunibaka for this season and this will be a big hole to fill. The ever improving Atsushi Moriya in the centres will have to step up this year. Yamaha have had a strong forward pack for a good number of years, but have lacked depth in the backs. However, this year the men in blue look to have more firepower in the backs to finish off the work of their forwards. World Cup halfback Yuki Yatomi has joined Yamaha this season after graduating from Waseda in the spring and he will be an important linchpin between the backs and forwards. At 176cms & 83kgs, Yatomi can also play at five-eighth & further out in the backline, making him a versatile asset for his new club. Yatomi also has his eyes on playing overseas at some point in the future. Yatomi also caused the ire of the Rugby public during the spring Test series last year (2006) when he pulled out of the 26 man national squad preparing to play Georgia. He pulled out to play for Waseda in a trial against Doshisha, thus putting Waseda before his country. The backs will have much more of a Japanese flavour this year and so Shotaro Onishi and Tatsuhiko Otao should be more involved around the area of the inside backs.

CB Cap holders in the current squad: (9)

At the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Yamaha was represented by lock Hajime Kiso who played as No8 against Australia and came on as a reserve against Wales and Canada. Tighthead prop Ryo Yamamura started in the No3 jersey against Australia and then came on as a replacement in the other 3 games. Inside centre Shotaro Onishi started against Fiji, Wales and Canada, and ended the tournament as the golden boy when he kicked the final conversion to give Japan the draw against Canada. Yuki Yatomi was the run on halfback against Australia and came on as a reserve against Fiji. Yatomi injured his left ankle against Fiji and that ended his tournament.

Wataru Murata 39 y/o, 41 caps at halfback,

Ryo Yamamura 26 y/o, 39 caps at prop,

Hajime Kiso 28 y/o, 31 caps at lock/flanker,

Koichi Kubo 31 y/o, 19 caps at lock/flanker,

Shotaro Onishi 28 y/o, 28 caps at flyhalf/centre,

Yuki Yatomi 22 y/o, 9 caps at halfback,

Atsushi Moriya 25 y/o, 5 caps at wing,

Shigeyasu Takagi 32 y/o, 5 caps at prop,

Tatsuhiko Otao 25 y/o, 1 cap at wing.

The Coach: Kevin Schuler (40) returned to Yamaha last year as overall coach. He was capped 4 times for the ABs with the last of them coming against Japan in RWC ‘95. Schuler has spent a lot of time in Japan, as a player and coach at Nippon Steel and also at Yamaha. The Shizuoka based Yamaha is hoping he can turn their fortunes around. Takanobu Horikawa will have the more hands on, day-to-day coaching role within the coaching team at Yamaha. Simon Kerr (37) is forwards coach for a second year, though this year he is also registered as a player. Fijian Waisake Sotutu (37) is backs coach for a second year and he too is registered as a player. Sotutu previously played for Yamaha from 1998 to 2003 and he also has 12 caps for Fiji as a centre. All his caps came in 1999, including the RWC of that year.

The previous year, Jun Sano replaced Grant Batty (played 15 Tests for New Zealand on the wing from 1972-77. Batty also has extensive coaching experience on the Queensland club scene & as an assistant coach to the Reds.) Batty left the club for personal reasons with Sano taking on the head-coaching role only in August. Sano was assistant coach at the RWC 7s and then coach of the 7s team at the World Games in Germany. He has also been an assistant coach at the 15s national level. Yamaha also lost forwards coach Adam Leach. Adam is well known in the Eastwood area in Sydney and went on to take up the head coach position for Tonga, though only lasted one season. Tabai Matson was backs coach, and he has also moved on.

The Captain: Hajime Kiso (28) is in his third year as captain. Kiso usually plays No8 or flanker for Yamaha. Yamaha has stuck with the experience of Kiso as captain again this year and this extends the continuity with coaches Horikawa and Schuler. Flanker Koichi Kubo was captain before that.

Losses: (10)

Nathan Williams (Aus) 31 y/o, utility back, 185/90, 3 years with club, QLD Reds. To Honda Heat.

Brendan (Chainsaw) Laney (NZ/Scot) 33 y/o, utility back, 183/95, 2 years with club, 16 caps for Scotland.

Marika Vunibaka (Fiji) 32 y/o, wing, 190/105, 2 years with club, Canterbury NPC, Crusaders S12, 19 caps Fiji.

Ipolito Fenukitau (Tonga), 35 y/o, No8, 189/105, 27 caps for Tonga, Brumbies (1998-2000), 5 seasons at Ricoh (2000-05). One year with club.

Masakazu Nakabayashi 28 y/o, 4 caps at hooker, 6 years with club, to Ritsumeikan University as coach.

Yuichiro Nakamura 27 y/o, prop, 5 years with club, to Mitsubishi.

Takamitsu Katsumata 33 y/o, lock, 11 years with club.

Akinori Tainaka 29 y/o, halfback, 7 years with club.

Daisuke Nakamura 28 y/o, five-eighth, 5 years with club.

Toshiyuki Sakoda 27 y/o, halfback/wing, 4 years with club.

Gains: (10)

Deryck Thomas (Fiji) 22 y/o, lock/No8, 192/116, from Hakuoh Uni. He represented Fiji U18s in 2002 and has one cap for Fiji (v Tonga PNC 2007).

Grant McQuoid (NZ) 28 y/o, centre/fullback, 185/91, NZ 21s in 1999, Chiefs S12, Bay of Plenty and Waikato in NPC 2000~06, Toyota Shokki 2006~7.

Michael Kingsbeer (NZ) 23 y/o, fullback, 183/93. Kingsbeer played in Wellington age group representative teams from 2000~03 before spending 2 seasons with Munster in Ireland. He returned to NZ in 2006 and played in the Wellington squad.

Yuki Yatomi 22 y/o, halfback, 176/81, from Waseda Uni. 2007 RWC squad member. Nine caps for Japan.

Keisuke Yagishita 23 y/o, lock/No8, 186/95, from Nippon Sports Uni.

Yuta Kasahara 23 y/o, lock, 186/102, from Ryutsu Keizai Uni.

Noriya Kobayashi 23 y/o, flanker/No8, 185/103, from Nippon Sports Uni.

Mototaka Koshimura 22 y/o, five-eighth, 180/84, Chuo Uni.

Takuya Nakajima 19 y/o, centre, 175/80.

Kil-Ryong So (Korea) 22 y/o, wing, 180/95.

Overseas players & staff: (8)

Jeffrey Maka (Tonga) 25 y/o, flanker/No8, 189/110, 2^nd year, Counties-Manukau NPC.

Deryck Thomas (Fiji) see “Gains” for details.

Grant McQuoid (NZ) see “Gains” for details.

Michael Kingsbeer (NZ) see “Gains” for details.

Waisake Sotutu (Fiji) 37 y/o, wing/centre/backs coach, 185/108, 12 caps for Fiji, Auckland NPC, Yamaha (1998-2003).

Simon Kerr (Aus), 37 y/o, prop/forwards coach, 178/120, S12 Reds, NPC Southland, Munster (Ire).

Kevin Schuler (NZ), see “The Coach” for details.

Keith Roberts (NZ), 58 y/o, physical coach.

Bits and Pieces

In the IRB rankings (12 November 2007); Japan was in 18^th place.

A name familiar in Japan a few years back on Jamie Joseph (37) has popped up again at home as the new coach of the Wellington Lions. Joseph represented both New Zealand and Japan in the days it was possible to do so and was most recently in Japan in May this year playing with the Classic All Blacks in two games against Japan. Joseph played 20 tests for the All Blacks as lock or backrower between 1992~95, including the 1995 RWC before quitting NZ rugby at the age of 26 for life in Japan. He went on to represent Japan nine times including the 1999 RWC while playing with the Sanix club.

The card barometer is back! In TL round one, eight yellow cards were handed out with 3 going to foreigners: Toutai Kefu and Marty Veale at Kubota and Blair Urlich at Mitsubishi. In round 2, the numbers were well down with only three yellows handed out, 2 to foreign players: Damian McInally (Kubota) and 202cm Ratuvula Ratuva (Toshiba) for a high tackle! In round 3, Nathan Grey was binned for Kyuden, and Isitolo Maka was also done for Sanix making it 2 out of 5 for foreign players. In round 4, Kef and Macca were again brothers in arms for Kubota. Pieter Ferreira copped yellow at Ricoh, That makes 10 out of 21 for the first 4 rounds for an average of about 48%.

This Time…

Last Year… in Vol.3 No.39 (21 November 06) RiJ reported on the first of the two RWC 2007 Final Asian Qualification games for Japan. With the event moved from Sri Lanka to Hong Kong due to the level of violence in the former, Japan beat host HK 52-3 on the artificial pitch of HKFC. RiJ also profiled Sanix as the 12^th in the series of TL team profiles. RiJ had a lot to say in Bottom of the Ruck, ref Taizo Hirabayashi TJed at Twickenham and JRFU chairman Yoshiro Mori announced Japan would bid for the hosting rights for the 2015 RWC. In Down the Track, the Japan 7s squad was named for the 15^th Asian Games in Dohar.

Two Years Ago…In Vol.2 No.43 (22 November 2005) RiJ followed the final decision of the RWC 2011. As we all know now, NZ was the final winner, leaving Japan second best with SA the first team to drop out. With feet firmly back on the ground, RiJ raised the question as to why there was no TL Rugby for the month of November in Japan for the CBs to play just one Test. RiJ is still wondering as November again shut up shop last year too! Then there was the late start this year because Japan was at the RWC, but there was a month between the time Japan finished its pool commitments and the opening of the TL season!! Sanix was the TL team profile of the week. In On the Horizon the up-coming U19 Asian Championships set down for December in Pakistan was also noted.

Three Years Ago… On Saturday, 20 November 2004 RiJ sent out a preview for the Romania v Japan test to be played in Bucharest the same day. On 23 November RiJ reported on the Romania 25 – Japan 10 result in the Bucharest test. Romania scored 3 tries to one and led 17-3 at the break. Captain Takuro Miuchi was the try scorer. Interestingly, given the time span, in the IRB rankings for 22 November 2004, Japan was ranked 18^th. Nothing much has changed!