Notion that Japanese Super Rugby team is good for the whole of Asia is rubbish
How will Hong Kong benefit from our closest rivals testing themselves week-in, week-out against the best?
Japan’s entry into an expanded Super Rugby competition in 2016 is likely to lengthen the growing divide between Asia’s number one team and the rest of the region. What will this mean for Hong Kong?
Jones, who won the Super Rugby title in 2001 with the Brumbies, is correct. At present only a handful of Japanese players have the opportunity to play in Super Rugby. Imagine if a squad of 25 to 30 get to play an entire season against the best from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. It would take Japanese rugby many levels higher.
While “a dream come true” for Jones, other Japanese officials claimed it would provide a shot in the arm for the game across Asia.
Japan Rugby Football Union chairman Tatsuzo Yabe said: “It will certainly bring innovation to not only Japan, but also the Asian region as a whole”.
I just cannot fathom what he means by this. While Japanese rugby is bound to improve leaps and bounds, and this will also surely inspire young kids to take up the game, there is no way this is a boon for our rugby.
Apart from growing an already large divide between Japan and Hong Kong, presently the number two side in Asia, it will also close the door firmly on the big boys club.
This line of reasoning is something the JRFU has taken regularly. When they were bidding for the 2019 World Cup, their slogan was that it was a bid for Asia. Well they won the right to host it, but I can’t see how it is helping the rest of Asian. Now that they have got a Super Rugby franchise, they trot out the same hogwash.
By no means am I saying that Japan shouldn’t have bid. In fact I was a firm believer from day one that if SANZAR was to award a franchise to be based in Asia, that it should go to Japan and not Singapore who also wanted it. But enough of this self-righteous drivel that everything Japan does is for the benefit of Asia.
Enough of this self-righteous drivel that everything Japan does is for the benefit of Asia.
What about our plight? We are trying gamely to punch above our weight and have done creditably with our limited player resources. But like Jones says, the benefits of playing week-in, week-out in a world-class competition is something which cannot be duplicated for our players.
The recent test matches against Uruguay and Russia proved the huge differences in standards between the local Premiership and international test rugby. And this is bound to grow from 2016. We will have to face the reality that taking that next step up will be beyond our reach unless something drastic happens.
What if the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union were to contract half-a-dozen key 15s players, all forwards, and get these players berths in the Japan Top League for starters, and maybe down the line a place in the Tokyo Super Rugby franchise? If Japan were to support this move, then we could truly say that all this is for the good of Asia.
Until then, enough of the sanctimonious poppycock.
