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Japan Rugby League One is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the Japan Company Rugby Football Championship, to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The chief architect of the league was Hiroaki Shukuzawa who strongly felt the urgency of improving Japanese domestic company rugby to a professional level which would allow Japan to compete more convincingly at Rugby World Cups.
Hanazono Kintetsu Liners rugby team are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kintetsu Corporation which was founded in 1929. They have won the All-Japan Championship three times as an amateur team. Their home is at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiosaka, Japan, which was also opened in 1929.
Leon Raymond MacDonald is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer, and now head coach for the Auckland Blues rugby team, who played 56 tests for the national team, the All Blacks. He played as a first five-eighth (fly-half), centre, and fullback.
Rico Levi Gear is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He was a specialist right wing but also covered midfield positions.
Pierre Johan Spies is a retired South African rugby union player. He usually played as a Number 8, but could also play as a flanker and at times was deployed on the wing. Between 2005 and 2015, he spent the majority of his career playing Super Rugby for the Bulls and domestic South African rugby for the Blue Bulls, followed by stints in the Japanese and French rugby championships. He represented South Africa internationally between 2006 and 2013.
Gene Fairbanks is a retired professional Australian rugby union footballer. He played for the Reds, Brumbies, and Force in the Super Rugby competition as well as for Kintetsu Liners in Japan. A devastating defender his usual positions were inside centre or fly-half.
Sanchez William Genia is a professional rugby union player, currently playing scrum-half for the Kintetsu Liners in Japan. He had previously played Super Rugby for the Queensland Reds (2007–2015) and Melbourne Rebels (2018–2019). He also had previously played for Stade Français in France's Top 14 from 2015 to 2017.
Fetu'u Moana Vainikolo is a Tongan rugby union player who currently plays for the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby (MLR). His regular playing position is Wing.
Sekope Kepu is an Australian professional rugby union player. He is a prop and currently plays for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. He has previously played for Australian club New South Wales Waratahs, the French club Bordeaux, and London Irish. He also plays for Australia's Wallabies in international matches. Kepu made his international debut for Australia in 2008 and has been a regular in match-day squads ever since, now having played over 100 tests. Kepu is the most-capped prop to ever play for the Wallabies and is also one of the most-capped rugby players in history.
Luke Thompson is a retired Japanese rugby union player. He played as a lock and occasional flanker. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Andre Taylor is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the fullback position and most recently played for Kintetsu Liners of Japan, and previously played for the Wellington-based Super Rugby franchise, the Hurricanes. He has played for New Zealand's Māori international side, the Māori All Blacks. Also a former New Zealand under-20 rep, Taylor endeared himself to Hurricanes' fans with a superb Super Rugby season in 2012. Starting at fullback, he became a regular try-scoring threat, drawing comparisons with the great Christian Cullen. At provincial level he began his career with Manawatu, his home province before making the switch to Taranaki in early 2010.
Ruan Jacobus Combrinck is a South African rugby union player. He plays mostly as a wing. He plays for Stade Français in the Top14 in France. He previously played for the Lions in Super Rugby, the Golden Lions and Western Province domestically and Kintetsu Liners in the Japanese Top League.
Aloisio Ilaisa Ma'asi is a Tongan rugby union player. He plays Hooker for Tonga on international level. Ma'asi also played for Counties Manukau in their ITM Cup campaign from 2007 to 2010.
Apisai Namata Naikatini is a Fijian rugby union footballer. He plays lock and blindside flank for Fiji and Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States.
Ben Toolis is a Scottish rugby union player who plays for Kintetsu Liners in the Japan Rugby League One. Toolis represented Scotland at an international level.
Ryan Louwrens is a South African Australian professional rugby union player currently playing as a scrum-half for the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby. Formerly with the Western Force, based in the city he migrated to as a teenager, Louwrens has also played with the Perth Spirit, the Kintetsu Liners of the Japanese Top League and the Austin Gilgronis in the Major League Rugby (MLR).
Kazu Hamabe is a former Japanese rugby union player who played as prop.
George Konia is a New Zealand former rugby union player who played for New Zealand Maori and for Japan. He played mainly as centre, but also as wing.
Marino Mikaele-Tu'u is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a loose forward for Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in the Japan Rugby League One competition.
The 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the 14th Pacific Nations Cup, an annual international rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of the Tier 2 rugby nations located around the Pacific: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States. Japan won their second outright Pacific Nations Cup, winning all three of their matches with try-scoring bonus points to finish top of the standings with 15 points.
References
- ↑ IRB (2009). "Pacific Nations Cup: Taufa Toetu'u" . Retrieved May 9, 2012.