The first youth international ever to be played outside Europe or North America will take place on Sunday when Japan U18s play Hong Kong at Japan's main rugby stadium, the Kumagaya Rugby Stadium in Saitama.
The Hong Kong team will arrive in Japan on Friday and both teams will have practice at the Stadium on Saturday. The Japanese will not select their 22 player squad until after the Saturday practice.
The structure of junior rugby in Japan is similar to that in England as girls' rugby is not played in any schools. As a result all the most promising players train with one of three regional teams - Kyushu (main southern island), Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe) and Kanto (Tokyo/Yokohama and surrounding provinces). Players from all three will be competing for places in the national side.
Japan were one of pioneers in the early years of women's rugby - a rugby union for women was formed in the country in 1988, only the second to be formed outside Europe. They took part in the first world cup in 1991, but after that development came to a near halt. After 1991 they played only seven internationals in the next nine years, five of which were at the 1994 World Cup. They were not invited to the 1998 event. However, the development of a national U18 team is just the latest example of how things are changing within Japanese rugby. Its also significant that both Hong Kong and Japan are putting money and effort into developing junior players, six years away from the Olympics.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
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As rugby games continue to gain worldwide exposure, it's always nice to hear about women's rugby league outside England and US.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm currently tuning in to a youth rugby league in the US and worldwide as I'm seeing young players who have to the potential to be the best in the game when their professional years come.