Japan to get Super 14 team?

[no.8]

Japan is being touted as the next venue to host a Bledisloe Cup in 2009 and according to Reuters the ARU is talking to Rugby bosses in Japan about them hosting a Super 14 team.

At this stage though they are primarily in initial talks with Japanese officials about bringing the Wallabies and New Zealand All Blacks to Asia's top rugby nation.

The ARU have said initial talks with had gone smoothly.

"We had our first preliminary discussions today. They were very positive," ARU chief executive John O'Neill told Reuters in Tokyo on Wednesday.

"We are taking the jewel in the crown into an incredibly valuable market. It would not be an exhibition match. It would be a full-blooded test with the cup on the line."

Australian and New Zealand officials have announced plans already to stage a Bledisloe Cup clash on Nov. 1 this year in Hong Kong and the next venue could be Tokyo.

The match this year will be a momentous occasion as it will be the first time the two great southern hemisphere rivals have met in a rugby test outside New Zealand or Australia, except at a Rugby World Cup.

"We are looking to play a Bledisloe Cup game in Tokyo about Oct. 31 next year or early November," he said.

"But it's not just lipservice. We are very serious about growing rugby in Asia.

"Of course the reasons are not entirely altruistic. We have had a very successful 12 years of the professional era but it's obvious we have to grow in a larger consumer area."

Plans to increase the number of sides in the Super 14 competition, and to include a Japan-based team, are also on the agenda.

"The Super 14 has been expanded (from 12) and could be expanded again in the next few years," said O'Neill.

"We could well base a team in Tokyo, possibly as a joint venture because it would be very important to be competitive.

"It would perhaps be half Japanese, with Japan's best players, and the other half foreign, predominately Australian."

O'Neill added that the International Rugby Board was backing the idea of taking the Bledisloe Cup games on the road.

"There have been some critics, more in New Zealand, about selling the farm," he said.

"But it has been well received. The IRB has been very supportive.

"They are desperate to grow rugby in these markets."
O'Neill was visiting Japan to back the country's bid to stage the 2015 World Cup. Australia also backed Japan in their bid to host the 2011 Rugby World cup.

[slomo]

its all down to $$$$$$, if it was down to quality of opposing side argentina would be a better option....

[beige]

With my constant bleating about Japan you'd think I'd be ecstatic While I do think this is very interesting, there are some issues that need to be thought through here:

1. South Africa is already problematic with the travel - throw in Japan and it will be an enormous geographical spread. Admittedly, the time zone isn't an issue, so maybe smart scheduling could sort that out.

2. If it's going to be a joint-venture team, you can kiss a Melbourne franchise goodbye.

3. Would the Japanese public accept too many foreigners on a team? O'Neil suggested a 50-50 split, however an audience poll on a recent Japanese talk show suggested that they wouldn't want any more than 1/3 of the team to be foreigners.

4. The Japanese Top League currently finishes at the end of February. Throw in the amount of time that a Super 14 team would need for pre-season and some major reshuffling is needed. Alternatively, you could leave the Super 14 players out of the Top League but the corporations backing the clubs might not like that.

Still, from Japan's point of view, anything that exposes their top players to genuine full-time professional rugby has to be looked at. I really liked O'Neil's quote in another article: "It's time for Japan to be more ambitious. If we go out on a limb, then Japan has to go with us if it wants to be taken both on and off the field as a serious rugby-playing nation."

[AndyS]

Yeah, I'm sure the South Africans will be all for that...19+ hours and two stop-overs to get to Tokyo. That'll be a blast!

[beige]

You're right, it is 19+ hours, regardless of how you schedule it - it'll either hit them on the way there or on the way back...

Hmmmmm

[GIGS20]

Is that not better than Argentina?

[jono]

hang on.
why doesnt perth get a bledisloe?
there is NO way japan should get one before perth!

[GIGS20]

Where have u been all week jono? Hong Kong won't get as big a crowd as Japan and they got one!

[jono]

recovering from soundwave,
uni,
volleyball,
work.
hence why i missed chat last night.
oh and there was a visit to the emergency room in there as well. accidently put my hand thru a window.

[jargan83]

Japan?? i would have thought that they would be more keen to get Argentina into regular competition

[beige]

why doesnt perth get a bledisloe?

You've missed some good and spirited debating, Jono! This is the ARU's/NZRU's reasoning: bledisloe cup match in hong kong november 2008/ four bledisloe cup games this year. - Page 2 - Western Force Rugby Supporters Site