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Japan captain Michael Leitch makes retirement plans clear

Michael Leitch of Japan gestures at full-time following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and Japan at Stade de Nice on September 17, 2023 in Nice, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Japan captain Michael Leitch has emphasised that he has no plan on retiring despite now being the age of 35, and has set his sights on making the World Cup in 2027.

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The flanker became Japan’s most capped player in World Cups recently in France as he took part in his fourth tournament, but has no plans on slowing down. Ahead of the new Japan Rugby League One season, the 84-cap international not only looked at the upcoming domestic season recently, but beyond the horizon at his Test career over the next four years, where he said he will do his best to make Australia in 2027.

Should Leitch manage to make the next World Cup, he would become the fourth member of an extremely elite club of players who have taken part in five World Cups, which includes Samoa’s Brian Lima, and the Italian duo of Mauro Bergamasco and Sergio Parisse.

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    “The World Cup is coming up in four years,” he said, as reported by tokyoheadline.com. “So I want to take on the challenge. This tournament made me realise just how high the barriers in the world are, so in order to overcome that, I’ll first be active in the domestic leagues that are about to start. I will do my best to win the jersey one more time.”

    Leitch also explained how he has managed to remain at the top of his game for so long, having made his international debut in 2008 at the age of 20. He said: “The most important thing is to work harder than your opponent. I think the most important thing is not just to run a lot, but to work smartly and hard.”

    For now, Leitch’s focus will be on Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, whose first game of the season is on December 9.

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    Comments

    2 Comments
    J
    JW 618 days ago

    He also only started playing Super Rugby in his mid 20’s, so the development path he took essentially extends his career another 3/4 years.

    M
    Miles 618 days ago

    As people are living longer due to best practice medicine and diet and sta dard of living it suggests that athletes should be able to push themselves further than their predecessors so 40 should be the new 35!

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    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 30 minutes ago
    Half-back depth is the flaw in 'Razor's' 4-4-4 Rugby World Cup plan

    Well there’s a couple of distinctions here that are important aren’t there?


    First though like I replied to Tk where does it say theres need to test vets, or proven reliable players? It is simply ‘test quality’.


    Now, I have created a list that I think is test quality, so all weve got to do is upskill the missing pieces right? No. Razor might not mean to have given every player half a dozen matchs but he will want to have identified and assured himself that each individual is indeed test quality. So yes, plays like Darry and Lord may still be included in a few squads and used so he’s happy to include them as say 5th and 6th ranked locks, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go to the same level to ensure for himself the 7th and 8th ranked locks.


    He might be happy basing performances off SR Finals, or organizing an AB XV match against a team like France or SA with similar locking depth (even organizing say Warner Dearns to be part of the Japan XV etc), and I’m sure they’re going to have a very large squad over in South Africa for two months.


    I don’t think he is quite in the same predicament as SA to have to rest top stars. And this is obviously just goal setting, they’re supposed to be hard. As you can see by the context around this series, arbitrary targets like everyone getting some minutes are made. That could also simply be how he ensures he has met the 4. So hookers would be ticked, as he’s already used 5 at test level. If you looked at the Baabaas SA game you’d see Beehre performing like an accomplished test player, that already makes 7 locks with more than 2 full seasons to go. You take the point BA was making about Marshalls previous remarks about Razor want players to be able to play 3/4/5 different positions, that would mean if Razor was really happy with Finau at lock last week he already has 8 test quality locks as well, etc, etc.


    TLDR sorry for the big reply, it’s just a goal, the teams not going to suddenly fail if he doesn’t reach it, I think theres many means and many players for him to be comfortable in getting 4 in each position. He’s obviously not going to be able to get 4 proven, hardened test players in each by then, no.

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