Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'No Japanese team wants to keep Australian players forever'

Quade Cooper. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

Video Spacer

The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

Video Spacer

The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

“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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

R
RedWarrior 49 minutes ago
Records show All Blacks' greatest rugby adversary is now Ireland

Foster was literally whinging about the TMO in the Ireland series in the presser AFTER the RWC final. NZs whinging about the final itself was apparently picked up by Voyager 2 which was near the asteroid belt. What about the whingefest and crybabies after O'Mahony's legendary sledge (during the match) on Sam Cane?


I often hear talk about NZ players being poisoned or similar nonsense during the 1995 final. NZ boast that they are 'superstars' and 'humble heroes' on their own website. You gave England the same treatment in 2002-2003, calling them arrogant just because they beat you. They told the rest of us then what you were like, we should have listened. I would give as much credence to a NZ supporter disliking us, as I would to Krusty the clown saying the same thing. Let's just say your judgement may not be the best.


Regarding 2016, as the referee had basically let NZ away with cheating their way to victory via filthy dangerous play and fouling he was hardly going to pull Sexton up when clearly trying to stop a grounding. NZ always leave the boot or arm in to hurt a try scorer but that seems to be invisible to you entitles lot.


BTW NZ have literally being whinging and crying about Ireland since Soldier field. You are just very bad losers. We will be delighted to be shot of you on Friday. I hope we do so with a win, so that you rethink your philosophy of mocking opponents and spectators you've just beaten.


After the match last Saturday the internet was full of Kiwi supporters basically abusing English folk. Where is your national honour? Where is your national integrity?

8 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
Search