Japan national rugby league team

Not to be confused with Japan national rugby union team.

Japan

Nickname	Samurais
Governing body	Japanese Rugby League Association
Region	Asia
Head coach	Amane Konishi
Captain	Noriyuki Tainaka
Most caps	Noriyuki Tainaka (9)
Colours
First international
Lebanon 52–28 Japan (1998)
Biggest win
Canada 0–14 Japan (1999)
Biggest defeat
United States 78–6 Japan (27 June 2003)

The Japan national rugby league team represents Japan in rugby league football. Japan has been playing international competition since 1994. A regular domestic amateur competition has been held in Japan for several years (the first domestic competition kicked off in 1998).

History

Japanese National Rugby League Team after a match.

Rugby league was founded in Japan in 1993 by former Australian first grade player, Max Mannix, who had played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Illawarra Steelers in Australia. While living in Japan, Mannix contacted the Australian Rugby League and requested entry into the 1994 Rugby League World Sevens, which was then played in Sydney as a precursor to the Australian professional rugby league competition, then known as the Winfield Cup. Mannix was given an interim period to prove that a competitive Japanese team could be formed, and over a period of 5 months, he made direct contact with rugby union players and invited them to play rugby league. With the support of his brother, Greg, and Masayuki Watabe, player numbers slowly climbed and regular weekly training sessions took place on the banks of the Tama River, located on the outskirts of Tokyo. In September 1993 Japan received an official invitation to participate in the 1994 World Sevens, an event that would provide the country with its first taste of rugby league competition; made up entirely of Japanese nationals derived from Japanese rugby union teams, the players were threatened with bans by the Japan Rugby Football Union, but despite the threats, a Japanese team participated in the 1994 Rugby League World Sevens, playing games against Tonga, Great Britain, and Russia. Although the Japanese lost all 3 games, they proved to be a crowd favorite, and were invited to return to the event in 1995. The first 13-a-side rugby league team to represent Japan was the national university team that took part in the 1996 University World Cup. The team was coached by Max Mannix with former Canterbury Bulldogs and Halifax player, Ken Isaacs, overseeing team management. Staged in Warrington, England, the event saw Japan compete against national university teams from Scotland, England, France, and the United States. The following year, 1997, saw Japan compete in the University World Cup in France, with Ken Isaacs coaching the team, and Shoji Watanabe overseeing team management. The first Japanese player to be contracted to a professional rugby league club was Kenji Imanaga. Imanaga was given a scholarship by the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, and was joined soon after by Ryoichi Ojima, a talented fleet-footed centre. With the support of (then) club supremo, Peter Bullfrog Moore, Imanaga and Ojima played regular games for Moorebank, Canterbury's feeder club, then coached by Kevin Moore. The first international game that Japan won was at the 1995 Rugby League World Sevens in Brisbane, when they defeated Canada, but Japan was disqualified for fielding what was deemed to be an unregistered player, a claim that was contested by the Japanese officials who offered proof that their application to register the player was declined solely on the grounds of race. The protest was declined and the disqualification held. The first international 13-a-side rugby league test match won by Japan was in 1999 at the 2000 World Cup qualifying tournament which was held at Disney's Wide World of Sport facility in Florida, USA, where Japan defeated the Canada 14-0. Despite the victory, Japan failed to qualify for the World Cup, having been previously defeated by the United States. In 2000, Japan went on to play in the Emerging Nations tournament, an event designed to provide emerging nations with evenly matched competition, the tournament ran in parallel with the Rugby League World Cup. The Japanese team at the Emerging Nations World Cup was coached by Tony Smith, who went on to become a successful coach in England, culminating with his appointment to coach the English national team in 2008 through 2009. The first rugby league team to visit, and play, against Japan, was a New South Wales Group 20 representative team in 1997, followed by the Lebanese national rugby league team in 1998.

Jersey

Primary 1998-present

Alternative 2006-present

Matches

Ranking

RLIF World Rankings
Top 28 Rankings as of November 2012
Rank	Change	Team	Points
1		Australia	1,303.00
2		New Zealand	916.00
3		England	671.00
4	1	France	267.00
5
6	3	Tonga	62.00
13		Italy	54.00
14	2	Russia	42.00
15	1	Serbia	39.00
16	2	Lebanon	37.00
17	5	Cook Islands	36.00
18	3	Canada	33.00
19	1	Norway	30.00
20	3	Germany	29.00
21	1	Malta	25.00
22		Jamaica	20.00
23		Ukraine	15.00
24	2	South Africa	14.00
25	3	Latvia	10.00
26	2	Czech Republic	7.00
27		Denmark	6.00
28	1	Sweden	2.00

There has been some controversy over Japan's ranking. They are currently unranked since November 2012. They were 28th before that at one point but they were unofficially given the 28th place.

Competitions

Japan has participated in a number of competitions:

• World Sevens (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, plus the qualification tournament in 2003, 2004)
• Super League World Nines (1996, 1997)
• Emerging Nations Tournament (2000)

In 2002 and 2003 Japan contested the East-West Challenge in the United States of America. This has since been abandoned.

Results

International

• Portugal RL def. Japan 28-16 (6 February 2008) as 10s match
• USA def. Japan 58-18 (28 October 2006)
• USA def. Japan 40-10 (26 January 2006)
• USA def. Japan 78-6 (27 June 2003)
• USA def. Japan 26-12 (1 June 2002)
• Canada def. Japan 28-12 (20 November 2000)
• Morocco def. Japan 12-8 (15 November 2000)
• BARLA (Great Britain Amateurs) 54 Japan 0 (2000)
• USA def. Japan 54-0 (1999)
• Japan def. Canada 14-0 (1999)
• Lebanon def. Japan 52-28 (1998)

World Sevens Results

• NASCA Aboriginals def. Japan 36-0 (24 January 2003)
• USA Tomahawks def. Japan 28-4 (24 January 2003)
• USA Tomahawks def. Japan 20-8 (1996)

International Nine's results

• 2008 Bowl Finalists Newtown 36 def. Japan 4

Semi Final, Japan 22 Def. Portugal 6

Student Results

• USA def. Japan 54-10 (1996)

External links

• http://www.geocities.jp/japaneserugbyleague/e/info.html