Kameari Get The Kizooch

May 18, 2005

Rugby in Japan

May 30, 2005

Rugby in Japan Newsletter Vol2, No.20

Published by Alex at May 18, 2005

RWC 07 Asian Qualification

Sun 8 May 2005 Chichibu, Tokyo

Japan 91 d Hong Kong 3

Japan 50 d Korea 31

Sun 15 May 2005

Seoul

Kick-off 3PM local time. (Same as Japan time)

Referee: Blair Collier

Attendance: 3,000

Halftime: J24-K17

Japan ? tries: Ohata (2), ORielly (2), Makiri, Tachikawa, & Otukolo; conversions: Morita (6); penalties: Morita d.

Korea ? tries: Kim Keun Hyun, Kim Hyung Ki, Kim Jong Soo & Lee Myung Geun; conversions: Oh Youn Hyung (4); penalties: Oh Youn Hyung.

Japan

	Name	Club	Age	Hgt/wgt	Caps
1	Shigeyasu TAKAGI	Yamaha	29	180/108	3
2	Ken TSUKAGOSHI	Toshiba	27	178/95	5
3	Ryo YAMAMURA	Yamaha	23	185/108	16
4	Takanori KUMAGAE	NEC	26	193/103	10
5	Jamie WASHINGTON	–	30	197/108	4
6	Hare MAKIRI	Sanix	26	190/110	4
7	Ryota ASANO	NEC	25	184/97	7
8	Takuro MIUCHI (Capt.)	NEC	29	187/107	24
9	Wataru MURATA	Yamaha	37	172/75	39
10	Kyohei MORITA	Hosei Uni	21	180/83	5
11	Hirotoki ONOZAWA	Suntory	26	180/82	25
12	Yukio MOTOKI	Kobe	33	177/88	75
13	Katoni OTUKOLO	Saitama Tech Uni	22	186/98	2
14	Daisuke OHATA	Kobe	29	176/82	48
15	Goshi TACHIKAWA	Toshiba	28	181/90	6

16	Masakazu NAKABAYASHI	Yamaha	26	178/102	2
17	Kenji KASAI	Toshiba	28	184/118	5
18	Hitoshi ONO	Toshiba	26	191/105	6
19	Phillip ORIELLY				1
20	Shota GOTO	Waseda Uni	22	170/71	3
21	Reuben PARKINSON	–	32	183/97	8
22	Hiroki MIZUNO	Toyota	23	170/75	3

Coach Mitsutake Hagimoto

Subs ? 16-2, 71 min

17-3, 71 min

18-4, 41 min

19-7, 52 min

20-9, 78 min

21 not used

22-15, 66 min

Korea

	Name	Age	Hgt/wgt
1	JUNG Sung Un	23	179/110
2	SHIN Woo Sik	27	178/108
3	YOON Sung Woon	25	171/105
4	JO Sung Woo	25	185/90
5	PARK Chan Sik	20	188/85
6	YOU Young Nam	22	191/92
7	KIM Jeong Min	22	180/88
8	LEE Kwang Moon	22	187/100
9	LEE Myung Geun	27	170/75
10	OH Youn Hyung	20	178/78
11	KIM Hyung Ki	30	174/78
12	YOO Min Hyung	23	179/86
13	KIM Jong Soo	23	183/92
14	CHUN Jong Man	30	181/70
15	KIM Keun Hyun	24	182/85

16	HEO Woong	20	185/120
17	LEE Jang Woo	23	183/116
18	YOUN Kwon Woo	20	185/110
19	PARK Yong Don	25	185/102
20	YANG Young Hun	24	175/79
21	YUN Hi Su	26	179/82
22	KIM Song Soo	22	181/90

Coach

Japan & Korea have played each other about 25 times since their first meeting in 1969 with Japan having won 17, lost 7 with one match being drawn. Although Japan has the wood on Korea statistically, the Koreans consistently prove to be a bogey team for the much more fancied CBs. Last year Korea held Japan to a spoiling 19-all draw in Tokyo to shock Hagimoto in his first Test as national coach. While even at age group levels Korean teams consistently surprise their close rivals as in the U19 Asian Championships held in China last December where Korea defeated Japan 28-10 in the final. The 19-all draw last year enabled Korea to top Division 1 in Asian Qualification pushing Japan into second place. However, this year Japan has already played 3 Tests & Hagimoto is now in his second year as coach. Furthermore, playing away in Seoul this year in an important RWC qualifier should bring out the metal in the Japanese.

As of May 9, Japan is ranked 18 & Korea 22 in the IRB rankings. This is a good ranking for Korea considering the statistics given for the country on the IRB site. Korea is listed as having 65 clubs, 541 senior male players & a total of 1,606 registered players in a country of over 40 million people. Japan has thousands of clubs & over 60,000 senior male players, so it is a wonder Korea can get anywhere near Japan on the scoreboard. Another interesting facet of Korean Rugby is that it tends to be quite insular in fielding only local Korean players & no ex-pat players. This is the 7^th year since annual Tests have been set up between the two countries in an attempt to strengthen the Rugby connection between Japan & Korea. It is an excellent idea that perhaps needs to be extended to something like an annual home & away contest with the occasional 3 Test series. Furthermore, playing for a cup of sorts would give both sides something extra to play for & something to show off in the trophy cabinet for the winner. In addition, including the region with Taiwan, HK & China or a Chinese Lions team would bolster Rugby in NE Asia. Food for thought.

Japan scored 7 tries to 4 in this Test winning by a 19-point margin in the end. Pleasingly, unlike last year in Tokyo the CBs took their chances & played the full 80 mins with many of their tries coming late in both halves. Ohata was again on the scoresheet bagging 2 tries this week with NZ born Test debutant loose forward Phillip ORielly also getting a double. Fellow Kiwi Makiri, along with fullback Tachikawa & Tongan born centre Otukolo scored the other tries. Fly half Morita continues to improve with his 6 from 7 conversions adding to his growing prestige. Japan had to work hard for this win after allowing Korea to dominate in the early stages of the first half & then again early in the second half when the home side took the lead. Muscle & enthusiasm alone was not enough for Korea to take this match due to a lack of general Rugby finesse & nous. A job well done for the visitors but fans would not have accepted anything else. Hagimoto & the squad will not be celebrating too hard this week as the season has just reached the halfway point with another 4 tough Tests to follow, albeit all at home.

CBs Season 2005 so far –

Lost v Uruguay 18-24, Sat 16 April, Montevideo
Lost v Argentina 36-68, Sat 23 April, Buenos Aires
Won v Hong Kong 91-3, Sun 8 May, Tokyo
Won v Korea 50-31, Sun 15 May, Seoul

Still to come ?

V Romania, Wed 24 May, Tokyo

V USA or Canada, Sun 29 May, Tokyo

V Ireland, Sun 12 June, Osaka

V Ireland, Sun 19 June, Tokyo

Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament 2005

RiJ has not been ignoring this tournament it is just there has been no room to cover it. Played form 29 April to 5 May in Fukuoka, Kyushu, the Sanix high school tournament consisted of 8 local schools & 8 overseas school. The overseas schools proved too strong taking out 3 of the 4 top spots. The final was fought out between Christchurch Boys HS & The Southport School from Australia. The NZ boys took the title 32-8. Waterkloof HS from South Africa finished third with the best of the Japanese schools, Osaka Technical University HS finishing fourth. This tournament is turning into an exciting annual event with the support of the JRU, Kyushu RU, the Sanix company, school organisations & the local community.

The participating schools & the order in which they finished is as follows

1 Christchurch Boys (NZ)

2 Southport School (Aus)

3 Waterkloof (SA)

4 Osaka Tech Uni

5 Blackrock College (Ire)

6 Tech

7 Carmartenshire College (Wal)

8 Saga Tech

9 Keiko Gakuen

10 Higashi Fukuoka

11 Shochi Fukaya

12 Ivybridge Community College (Eng)

13 Tenri

14 Queen Victoria School (Fiji)

15 Nagasaki Kita

16 Seoul Buk Tech (Korea)

The Rumour Mill

Is 29 year-old Norm Maxwell on his way to Japan? The Crusaders lock & 36 Test All Black is weighing up his options with the Lions tour not too far away.

Local TV. Check out TV Tokyo every Monday from 23.58 to 24.12 for Rugby news. Will be shown May 16, 23, 30 & June 6, 13 & 20. Japanese only?

Tongan born Rugby players got into a street fracas with a Japanese female pro wrestler. Taken in for questioning by cops. One player said to be a current national player. He played against HK & he was conspicuously absent from the XXII for Korea. RiJ wonders who won the street bout?

On the Horizon

Super Cup
- Wed 25 May: USA v Canada & Japan v Romania
- Sun 29 May: Final & play-off for 3rd

Ian McDonnell

Alex

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