Rugby World Cup team profile - Japan
The Japan national rugby union team, popularly called the Cherry Blossoms, is placed in Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC). Besides Japan other teams in Pool A include hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and Canada.
Following their tournament winning performance in the recently concluded 2011 International Rugby Board’s (IRB) 2011 Pacific Nations Cup, Japan have gained two places in the IRB world rankings. They have moved two spots up from their 15th ranking and are
currently 13 in the world.
Japan so far has featured in all six RWCs. However, they have only been able to win a single game in the global rugby tournament. Their only win of the tournament came way back in 1991, when they defeated Zimbabwe. Their only other best performance came
in 2007 RWC, in which they played a draw with Canada.
Japan secured their place in the 2011 RWC after their comprehensive victory over Hong Kong in the final of the Asian Five Nations tournament. Japan defeated Hong Kong 94 – 5.
New Zealand born, fly half James Arlidge is Japan’s most prominent player without any doubt. Arlidge had made his mark in the Super Rugby competitions, where he represented the Blues and later the Highlanders.
After Super Rugby Arlidge joined Osaka based rugby club, NTT DoCoMo Kansai, to start his professional rugby union career in Japan. He has played 25 international tests for Japan and he was the top point-scorer in the IRB 2008 Pacific Nations Cup.
Toru Kurihara with his 40 points from four games he has played so far is Japan’s highest point scorer in international matches. While Eiji Kutsuki with his four tries is their top try scorer.
Japan’s head coach and former World Cup winning All Blacks, John Kirwan, has recently announced his 50-man squad for Japan’s 2011 RWC campaign. The 50-man squad consists of 28 backs and 22 forwards. The squad includes:
Backs : Hisateru hirashima (kobe steel kobelco steelers ), Kensuke hatakeyama (suntory sungoliath ), Naoki kawamata (panasonic wild knights), Hiroshi yamashita (kobe steel kobelco steelers), Nozomu fujita (honda heat), Shinsuke nakamura (suntory sungoliath),
tateo kanai (suntory sungoliath), yusuke aoki (suntory sungoliath), shota horie (panasonic wild knights), hiroki yuhara (toshiba brave lupus), takeshi kizu (kobe steel kobelco steelers), ryuta ueno (toyota verblitz), hitoshi ono (toshiba brave lupus), toshizumi
kitagawa (toyota verblitz), luke thompson (nz/jpn) (kintetsu liners), yuji kitagawa (panasonic wild knights), justin ives (nz) (panasonic wild knights), shinya makabe (suntory sungoliath), takashi kikutani (toyota verblitz),
Toetuu taufa (tga/jpn kintetsu liners), Michael leitch (nz) (toshiba brave lupus), Yoshitaka nakayama (toyota verblitz), sione vatuvei (tga) (panasonic wild knights), tadasuke nishihara (panasonic wild knights), ryukoliniasi holani (tga/jpn) (panasonic wild
knights), masakazu toyota (coca cola west red sparks), itaru taniguchi (kobe steel kobelco steelers), masato toyoda (toshiba brave lupus)
Forwards: Fumiaki tanaka (panasonic wild knights), Tomoki yoshida (toshiba brave lupus), Koji wada (toyota verblitz), Atsushi hiwasa (suntory sungoliath), Ippei asada (toyota verblitz), James arlidge (nz) (nottingham (eng)), shaun webb (nz) (coca-cola west
red sparks), bryce robins (nz) (honda), murray williams (nz) (toyota industries corporation shuttles), yuta imamura (kobe steel kobelco steelers), ryan nicholas (nz) (suntory sungoliath), koji taira (suntory sungoliath), alisi tupuailai (sam) (canon eagles),
taihei ueda (honda heat), hirotoki onozawa (suntory sungoliath), kosuke endo (toyota verblitz), yasunori nagatomo (suntory sungoliath), takeshisa usuzuki (toshiba brave lupus), akihito yamada (panasonic wild knights), goshi tachikawa (toshiba brave lupus),
go aruga (suntory sungoliath), ayumu goromaru (yamaha jubilo).
Japan is not a favourite to reach the second round of the 2011 RWC. However, they will be looking forward to win their respective games against Canada and Tonga to better their record in the tournament and secure their spot in 2015 RWC.
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