RUGBY IN JAPAN NEWSLETTER: Vol.10, No.16

Congratulations RIJ Newsletter 10th Anniversary 2003-2013

RiJ brings the reader the 35-man Japan squad for the opening test of the A5N against the Philippines.

Ian McDonnell lives and works in Japan. He can be contacted at ianmcdo@apost.plala.or.jp

CONTENTS

• Asia 5 Nations 2013 Japan squad v Philippines

HSBC Asian Five Nations 2013

On 8 April 2013, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced a 35-man squad for the first game of the HSBC Asian Five Nations 2013 against the Philippines in Fukuoka on 20 April 2013.

Japan Squad

Name	Club	Age	Hgt/Wgt	Caps
Hisateru HIRASHIMA	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	30	180/110	27
Masataka MIKAMI	Toshiba Brave Lupus	24	178/113	-
Hiroki YUHARA	Toshiba Brave Lupus	29	173/105	9
Takeshi KIZU	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	24	183/112	14
Yusuke AOKI	Suntory Sungoliath	29	176/95	22
Kensuke HATAKEYAMA	Suntory Sungoliath	27	178/116	36
Hiroshi YAMASHITA	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	27	183/120	15
Takuma ASAHARA	Toshiba Brave Lupus	25	179/114	-
Hitoshi ONO	Toshiba Brave Lupus	34	192/102	63
Toshizumi KITAGAWA	Toyota Verblitz	32	195/110	41
Shoji ITO	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	31	191/100	7
Shinya MAKABE	Suntory Sungoliath	25	192/110	9
Hendrik TUI	Panasonic Wild Knights	25	189/100	4
Michael BROADHURST	Ricoh Black Rams	26	196/110	2
Ryuta YASUI	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	23	187/105	-
Justin IVES	Panasonic Wild Knights	28	196/100	8
Kojiro YOSHIDA	Toyota Verblitz	24	180/92	-
Takeshi KIKUTANI	Toyota Verblitz	33	187/100	53
Ryu Koliniasi HOLANI	Panasonic Wild Knights	31	188/111	22
Atsushi HIWASA	Suntory Sungoliath	25	166/71	17
Keisuke UCHIDA	Tsukuba University	21	177/85	2
Kosei ONO	Suntory Sungoliath	25	171/82	14
Yu TAMURA	NEC Green Rockets	24	181/88	3
Ryoto NAKAMURA	Teikyo University	21	177/93	-
Harumichi TATEKAWA	Kubota Spears	23	181/93	9
Tomohiro SEMBA	Toshiba Brave Lupus	30	183/93	9
Male SAU	Yamaha Jubilo	25	183/98	-
Yuta IMAMURA	Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	28	178/93	33
Hirotoki ONOZAWA	Suntory Sungoliath	34	180/85	76
Kosuke ENDO	Toyota Verblitz	32	186/90	41
Toshiaki HIROSE (c)	Toshiba Brave Lupus	31	173/80	10
Akihito YAMADA	Panasonic Wild Knights	27	181/85	-
Ayumu GOROMARU	Yamaha Jubilo	27	185/96	20
Go ARUGA	Suntory Sungoliath	29	175/84	18
Kenki FUKUOKA	Tsukuba University	20	175/83	-

Staff
Eddie Jones, head coach, JRFU.
Scott Wisemantel, technical adviser, JRFU.
John Pryor, strength and conditioning coordinator, JRFU.
Takahiro Murakami, strength and conditioning coach, Vital Strength Co., Ltd.
Yuji Takazawa, team doctor, Juntendo University.
Hidenori Izawa, physiotherapist, Dome Co., Ltd.
Junnosuke Aono, physiotherapist, JRFU.
Shota Nakajima, analyst, JRFU.
Takenori Omura, team manager, JRFU.
Julia Nakazawa, translator, Field of Dreams.
Mayuko Watanabe, media manager, JRFU.

Comment by Head Coach Eddie Jones
At the recent training camp at Sugadaira, the squad has shown marked improvement from the tour to Europe last autumn. We have also brought in Kenki Fukuoka from the Junior Japan squad for his world class speed. If we can work on his physical conditioning and improve his overall skills he will be a valuable asset to the squad. For the first test of the HSBC Asian Five Nations against the Philippines and also the second test against Hong Kong we want to use the same squad of 25 players. As this is the second year with this squad, we want to continue to improve on what we did last year in what is going to be a very tough season ahead of us. This is very exciting times for this team.