Japan Super Rugby team

[wamberal]

Wamberals comments are the biggest problem in the rugby fraternity today.

The opposite of nike

"Just Give Up"

Gee, that's a real zinger. So it's all my fault, is it?


I do all I can to support the game, financially and in every way I can. However, unlike King Canute, I can detect which way the tide is running, and I have also stated my reasons for the ebb tide, and my solutions.


Mindless optimism is more dangerous than realism, old chap. Seeing things as they actually are, and trying to do something to make things better, is better than blowing smoke up each others' fundamental orifices.

 

[RugbyFuture]

but you can't to the point predict the sporting future of an entire nation and give up on them. Same as you can't go past public schools, catholic schools, the indigenous and pasifika community or discount the existence of a third tier in its entirety because mindless optimism is stupid.

As much as I hate leagues verbal vitriol their balance of mindless optimism has worked out for them. Same goes for AFL and Soccer. Its not all they did, but it contributes a great deal to the perceptions of their games in the media.

Rugby has far too much negativity surrounding it. I go to games and get told to stop shouting or waving flags because people want to sit and complain about how shit the game they're watching is. I overhear conversations of the SFS members talking about how they much prefer going to the AFL. We allow the media to go on and on complaining about every single political and administrative niggle in the game and the position we're in is a result of this.

compared to those people telling me to shut up and stop moving today with when I first went as a kid and was told by strangers in the crowd to yell as much as possible and you see the vast differences.

In any case, neither of us can really comment on a purely Japanese situation where they're trying to promote the game, since neither of us are Japanese.

The reason the Australian and South African teams are sponsored by Asics is purely because of a push (by the home office) to be included in the rugby community for the 2019 RWC which shows there are directives from Japan to be more involved in the games. This paired with the Emperors interest in the sport and its base concept of bravery and camaraderie simultaneously could all have an effect on the Japanese being able to legitimise themselves.

 

[Marcelo]

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Do you know that the Sumo is dying in Japan??

http://www.japaneasyblog.com/the-dying-sport-of-sumo-wrestling/

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion...mentary/sumo-will-change-or-die/#.VazkQqNZ44k

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/nobody-wants-to-be-a-sumo-anymore

The Japanese Sumo wrestlers are an endangered species and most of the best Sumo wrestlers are foreigners

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-13

 

[qwerty51]

MHCS is right. Even Eddie Jones has bemoaned the lack of physicality of the Japanese players. There's a reason his pack on the weekend was half imports.

 

[Marcelo]

MHCS is right. Even Eddie Jones has bemoaned the lack of physicality of the Japanese players. There's a reason his pack on the weekend was half imports.

Japan is one of the countries with the highest number of rugby players and more investment. Have a competitive forwards pack after decades of investment is a very poor result. Next year they will be destroyed by the Force or Rebel, small teams that have less than 100k followers on social networks

 

[RugbyFuture]

Those teams with less than 100k of followers are AWFUL

 

[Slim 293]

That's right MHCS, the Japanese can't play rugby.......... which is why they've been a mainstay at the World Cup, are going to host the next one, run one of the world's top professional competitions, and have players plying their trade in other professional competitions.............

A team who have in recent years beat tier one nations such as Wales and Italy........ and are currently ranked above Italy, Tonga, Georgia, USA and Romania?

Yep........ totally useless, and not at all racist............

 

[Marcelo]

That's right MHCS, the Japanese can't play rugby.... which is why they've been a mainstay at the World Cup, are going to host the next one, run one of the world's top professional competitions, and have players plying their trade in other professional competitions.....

A team who have in recent years beat tier one nations such as Wales and Italy.... and are currently ranked above Italy, Tonga, Georgia, USA and Romania?

Yep.... totally useless, and not at all racist....

They can play rugby, off course! I'm going to buy the new Japan jersey because I think is one of the most nice among WC jerseys. But because of their size, smaller than the average, big rugby players don't grow on their trees. They can and should play rugby but to be a rugby power nation have a loooooong way. With your criteria we can say that Adidas is racist, because it considers the Japanese smaller than the German

 

[blindsider]

I wonder if Craig Wing will get a run


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[Joeleee]

It's a travesty that Japan have to have foreigners playing to make them competitive. It's a good thing Australia has only Australian born and bred players in our team. We can score 82nd minute winners without any foreigners and Japan should have to do the same.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

I wonder if Craig Wing will get a run

INCORRECT WORD ORDER.

**FINAL WARNING**



Regards,

--GAGR Moderator.

 

[blindsider]

INCORRECT WORD ORDER.

**FINAL WARNING**



Regards,

--GAGR Moderator.

Ok

Must be my public school education and many concussions causing this.


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[p.Tah]

Here is one guy they can sign

 

[TahDan]

Japan is not now, and never will be, a rugby nation.


This will all end in tears.

As someone who works for a Japanese government body and used to live there, I tend to agree.

There is a fairly strong niche rugby community, but it is VERY niche...

 

[MarkJ]

There is a fairly strong niche rugby community, but it is VERY niche.

Are we talking about Australia or Japan?

 

[TahDan]

Are we talking about Australia or Japan?

A fair question haha.

Things are pretty depressing for Rugby in Australia right now, but in Japan it just isn't on the radar.

To give you an idea of how informed about Rugby the average Japanese is, most of my office think Australian Football is "Rugby."

There is one IT guy that absolutely loves the game, but the rest have no clue.

The "genetics" of the Japanese isn't the issue btw - on average they're shorter of course, but if the game was the country's national sport, you'd have all the exceptions to that generalisation on display - because there are more than a few very tall Japanese in their 128 odd million population. I played with a couple guys around the 190cm mark at my rather tiny uni there when I was on exchange.

 

[Joeleee]

As someone who works for a Japanese government body and used to live there, I tend to agree.

There is a fairly strong niche rugby community, but it is VERY niche.

I would agree that it will never be the main national sport, but much like with the USA, it's a matter of scale. You only need ~20% of the interest in Japan compared to Australia to match what we have, and ~7% of the interest in the US.

 

[Omar Comin']

Rugby is also very niche in Melbourne and Perth. And Tokyo is many times bigger. This team just needs to get the local rugby community behind it at first - then build from that. From there what would really help is if Japan had a real star player come through - a Japanese Dan Carter or Israel Folau that could cut through into the mainstream.

 

[TahDan]

I would agree that it will never be the main national sport, but much like with the USA, it's a matter of scale. You only need ~20% of the interest in Japan compared to Australia to match what we have, and ~7% of the interest in the US.

Absolutely - but I wonder about the likelihood of reaching 20% in Japan. From my experience there, I do find it hard to imagine young Japanese people jumping on the rugby bandwagon.

Would love to see it hit the big time there, but this method of throwing a Japanese team into Super Rugby isn't the way to go in my view... it's obviously smaller in Korea, but ideally I reckon they'd be better off focusing on the Asian region by extending the current Japanese competition to include a Korean side with a view to slow expansion.

 

[TahDan]

Rugby is also very niche in Melbourne and Perth. And Tokyo is many times bigger. This team just needs to get the local rugby community behind it at first - then build from that. From there what would really help is if Japan had a real star player come through - a Japanese Dan Carter or Israel Folau that could cut through into the mainstream.

That would be ideal - but you don't need a Japanese team in Super Rugby for that to happen. Just look at the big MLB stars from Japan - they almost generate more interest being successful in foreign competitions.