Hong Kong rugby interim head coach Simon Amor takes new leadership role with Japan’s national sevens programme
- Former England captain and coach joined Hong Kong Rugby Union in August ahead of Asian Rugby Championships
- Amor says new role is ‘great honour and privilege’ and highlights potential of nation’s teams
Simon Amor has taken on a new role as technical director for Japan’s sevens programme, weeks after leaving his job as Hong Kong’s interim men’s 15s coach.
Japan has created the position for Amor as part of a coaching shake-up for its sevens programme, as it begins preparing for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Amor, the former England coach and international, joined the Hong Kong Rugby Union in August with the aim of getting the men’s team ready for the Asian Rugby Championships in November.
But with that tournament now tentatively pushed to January, Amor had previously advised the HKRU of his intention to leave last month as planned.
In a statement, the union thanked Amor for his help and said he had laid “important groundwork for the team preparing to chase a third straight Asian crown, including designing the new semi-professional structure at the HKRU”.
As well as Amor, Japan named Tsuyoshi Tokunaga, who was head coach of it women’s sevens side between 2018 and 2019, as national team director, with Takashi Suzuki made the women’s head coach. Koichi Umeda will continue as acting head coach of the men’s sevens.
“We have put in place a leadership and coaching team to help us reach our goals of seeing our men’s and women’s sevens teams challenge the best in the world,” Mitsuyuki Nakayama, the Japan Rugby Football Union boss, said.