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for sure. too little too late though? or do you think they might actually be able to field a team of top string players?
Any supporters tours to Japan?
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
At least they can be cellar dwellers with the Kings
If anyone can remember "insiders" a week ago Roy Masters proclaimed the exact opposite, and stated the Japanese franchise had announced its playing list etc and it was all good, and all go, looking great with a fantastic roster. Imagine Roy doing a "fluff" piece for Union!!!.
Just got them. Away game. InnFORCers inaugural Japan Tour coming up I suppose.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Just did a flight search, Perth to Tokyo for 1 week, , Tokyo to Bangkok for 2 weeks, Bangkok to Perth in time for the next round $1290
Read an article a few days ago and Japan's TV viewing audience was less than 1 percent of the population when they played SA.
It jumped up to 15 percent when they played Scotland with over 20 million tuning in.
Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.
Any Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Japan?
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
Japan coach Eddie Jones has fired a stunning broadside at the Asian nation's rugby board, accusing it of holding back the sport and casting doubt on its ability to build on the Brave Blossoms' breakthrough World Cup win over South Africa.
Jones led Japan to their greatest rugby triumph just over a week ago - a 34-32 win over the Springboks that prompted nearly 20 million Japanese to tune in for their next match against Scotland, a 45-10 defeat. The win over South Africa was lauded as Japan's coming of age as a rugby nation but Jones was far less bullish about the 2019 World Cup hosts' prospects.
"The legacy now is how the Japan Rugby Football Union uses the win and how strong they are in developing good coaching systems and improving infrastructure to go forward," the 55-year-old Australian said at Japan's team base in Warwick, England.
"This is like a balloon. It can be popped or it can be a real growth spurt. It's entirely the responsibility of the JRFU.
"To keep improving, things have to change. I couldn't go back after the World Cup and do what I have done for the last four years because we are not going to improve enough within the current structures.
"I know enough about rugby to know that," he said.
Jones, who coached Australia to the 2003 World Cup final, said the Brave Blossoms were not just a representative team of Japan's top players, but also had to act as a development team and a casualty ward for their injured.
"We've had to use it for rehab and keep injured players with us because we can't send them back [to their domestic teams]," he said. "All those things have to change if Japan wants to be a serious rugby country.
"One of the reasons I decided not to continue was because I didn't think those things could change."
After four years in charge, Jones will quit Japan after the World Cup to coach the Cape Town-based Stormers in the southern hemisphere's Super Rugby competition.
His departure also means he won't take up an appointment as director of Japan's fledgling Super Rugby team, who are to join an expanded 18-team competition next season.
The new team are still unnamed, lack a coach and have yet to unveil a playing list.
"I am surprised Super Rugby is going ahead [with them] but maybe there were legal ramifications," Jones said.
"It just hasn't got the right infrastructure in place to be successful and it could end up doing more harm than good."
http://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/arti...ch-eddie-jones