Check out the following list of names in action over the weekend: Ardie Savea, Beauden Barrett, Sam Cane, Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, Brodie Retallick, Shannon Frizell, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Faf de Klerk, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Franco Mostert. A few short weeks ago they were all starting in the Rugby World Cup final in Paris. But where are they now? Here’s a clue: none were involved in the opening round of the Champions Cup.
On that same theme, here’s a supplementary quiz question. Which of the following rugby matches attracted a bigger crowd over the weekend? Was it: a) Racing 92 v Harlequins; b) La Rochelle v Leinster; c) Bulls v Saracens; or d) Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay v Tokyo Sungoliath? Let’s just say Europe’s leading clubs and their flagship cross-border tournament are by no means the only show in town these days.
Because the respective answers are Japan and d). No fewer than 18,500 people turned up for the pick of the opening‑round games in Japan Rugby League One (JRLO), compared to fewer than 10,000 in Racing’s futuristic Parisian stadium. Amid all the debate over Henry Arundell choosing to stay in France rather than return home to England, dozens of players worldwide have already voted with their feet (and wallets). Every single nation in the world, France excepted, faces an increasing battle to retain their best players.
So for all the quiet English encouragement following a clutch of weekend Premiership wins over Top 14 opposition for Quins, Exeter, Sale and Bristol, the longer-term outlook is absolutely fascinating. Will the French league become such an irresistible magnet that the number of leading English players crossing the Channel increases exponentially? Or might the money on offer for a shorter, sharper six-month season in Japan start to attract significantly more European-based stars?
Take Savea, the current world player of the year. He has signed to play for the Kobe Steelers on a “sabbatical” deal rather than compete in Super Rugby in 2024. An early measure of his enthusiasm for his new environment has already arrived in the form of two tries on his debut for his new club.
Also in Japan at the moment are the Wallaby trio of Marika Koroibete, Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper, Tonga’s Charles Piutau, Wales’s Liam Williams and England’s Nathan Hughes. Dave Rennie, Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith, Wayne Pivac, Robbie Deans, Todd Blackadder and Kieran Crowley all now coach in Japan. Meanwhile the board of the Japan Rugby Football Union is set to rehire Eddie Jones as national head coach this week. More headlines, more eyeballs, more interest, for better or worse.
The JRLO chairman, Genichi Tamatsuka, and his chief operating officer, Hajime Shoji, are also talking a good game. They speak confidently of attracting more than one million fans to live games this season; in year one the figure was 450,000, last year it was 750,000. While Covid and a post-RWC 2019 fall‑off in local interest have both presented obstacles, Tamatsuka remains bullish about the future of League One, both from a local and global perspective.
“We want to become a great league. Asia is a growth centre so in that sense we feel there is big potential. Players coming to Japan now are quite satisfied with the quality of the games and many had a good experience during the 2019 World Cup. Japan is quite a safe country, the food is really great ... But the quality of rugby is also very important and the level has been improving.”
On the commercial front the aim is to make the new league model sustainable “within five years” and to broaden its appeal. Whereas 100% of revenue used to come from parent companies who have traditionally supported rugby in Japan, the target is for enhanced broadcasting, marketing and ticketing deals to account for 50% in future, with local Japanese talent also benefiting. “Our objective with the new league was to make the national team better and stronger and to be at least among the top eight teams in the world,” Tamatsuka says. “I feel we’re heading in the right direction.”
Also among the new initiatives, following a memorandum of understanding with New Zealand Rugby, will be cross-border games in February involving four Japanese clubs against the Chiefs and the Blues. A new deal to broadcast League One games in South Africa, in addition to other interested territories, has just been signed this week. “At this moment we are not planning to send a team into Super Rugby,” Tamatsuka says. “Instead we are trying to expand our opportunities to compete against non‑Japanese leagues and even European leagues in the future.”
Interesting. So would Owen Farrell, say, be welcome if he ever fancied giving Japan a try? “He’d be very welcome. Very, very welcome,” Tamatsuka says instantly. “We have a lot of skilled talent from overseas and they are creating value inside Japan. This is exactly what the parent companies want to achieve in their new business models and is increasing their appetite for further support. But we have so many great players already. Our challenge is how we communicate that to non-rugby fans and a younger audience.”
The winds of change are clearly blowing. One dominant league hoovering up all the world’s talent is in no one’s longer-term interests but, equally, there is no future for parochial leagues, loss-making clubs and minimal overseas interest. If, in the years ahead, Farrell or Maro Itoje fancy a season or two in Tokyo to help freshen their bodies, their minds and their bank balances, who could blame them?
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