Mark has played for

HKFC and captained

the HK VIIs

Kenzo has been an

important member at

Causeway Bay and

represented HK at

XVs and VIIs

Hello rugby fans!

It’s been a while since our last blog which we apologise profusely for. It’s been a busy few months with the Rugby World Cup on, but now that’s over, we will have more time to write our blog for you all!

In Japan, the Top West League has started for the Toyota Shokki Shuttles and we have so far won 2 out of 2 games in relatively convincing fashion putting us in pole position to win our division and hopefully earn a promotion back to the Japan Top League. With so few teams in our Top West League (only 4 teams), for the weekends we aren’t playing official matches, we’re playing ‘practice’ games against many of the Top League teams. A highlight was playing against and beating a Yamaha team including All Black legend Jerry Collins.

The Japan Top League this year began over the weekend and is going to be an intense season with so many world class players moving to Japan to show case their talents. A number of World Cup players have moved to Japan including: All Blacks Brad Thorn, Ma’a Nonu and Mils Muliaina; South Africans Fourie Du Preez, Danie Roussow and Jaque Fourie and England’s James Haskell among others.

We have also seen an increase in the number of Asian players here in Japan with China’s Li Yang joining the Kintetsu Liners and Philippine Volcanoes Michael Letts at Toyota Shokki Shuttles and Gareth Holgate at Kyuden Voltex. As former Wallabies and current Suntory Sungoliath Head Coach recently said, Japanese rugby will only improve if Japanese players move overseas and gain professional experience in other countries. The same can be applied here in Asia, where the best players from Asian countries are able use the Japanese rugby league as a platform to improve their own abilities and thus improve the standard of their own national teams.  Philippines have already qualified for the Hong Kong Sevens next year and look set to gain promotion to the Top 5 of the Asian 5 Nations. With more Filipino players gaining experience in Japan’s domestic league, the Volcanoes look set to become a new force in Asian rugby alongside the likes of Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and Korea. Hopefully some more Hong Kong players can join us in seasons to come!

The World Cup was great viewing for all but it was a bit disappointing to see Japan finish the tournament without a win. After starting so well against France, the Brave Blossoms found it tough in their remaining matches and failed to achieve their goal of winning two matches and thus gaining an automatic place in the 2015 World Cup. Had this happened, another Asian country might have had the chance of qualifying as well!

Well, that’s all for now. See you soon and enjoy your rugby!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

October 2011

Konnichiwa!

As the rest of the world is preparing for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, back here in Japan, the Toyota Shokki Shuttles have been busy getting ready for our season as we begin our quest of returning to the Japanese Top League.

As mentioned in the last blog in May, pre-season matches have begun. Since May we have played 10 pre-season games and been through many more intense weights, conditioning and training sessions. The heat of the Japanese Summer has made it very hard for players to maintain their weight. Pre-season is generally a time when players are working to gain weight in preparation for matches, but it’s proving to be rather difficult in 36 degree heat where it is not uncommon to lose 3kgs in a practice!  

Over in Hong Kong, Rowan has recovered from his shoulder injury and in now captaining the Hong Kong rugby sevens squad for the Shanghai Sevens – the first leg of the IRB Asian Sevens series.  Next year this Sevens series will determine which Asian teams will qualify for the last ever Rugby Sevens World Cup in Russia in 2013. The side going to Shanghai is a very different looking side from the Asian Games silver medal winning team, with a lot of best performing players from the Asian 5 Nations making their way into the squad.  

The Toyota Shokki Shuttles will all be watching Japan’s World Cup matches with excitement as we see one of our own line up in the national colours. Murray Williams has been selected as one of the fly-halves and we are all going to be cheering him on from Japan as he takes on the All Blacks, France, Canada and Tonga! Go Muzz and go Japan!

See you guys soon!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

September 2011  

Konnichiwa everyone!

Professional sport comes with many positives, however, the one negative we’ve learned a lot about in recent times, is dealing with injuries.

As Mark mentioned in the last month’s blog, he has been sidelined with both a shoulder and a groin injury. His past few months have been filled with on-going rehabilitation and strengthening work in the gym. On top of this, he has had to split his time between Hong Kong and Japan consulting physiotherapists and doctors regarding the progress his injuries are making.

Rowan unfortunately joined Mark on the injured list after damaging his shoulder in the A5N match against Sri Lanka. The grade 5 injury to his AC joint means he will be out of action for the next 3 months… the whole Summer! Luckily for Rowan, he hasn’t had to look too far for a sling as his kind friend Ed Haynes had plenty of spares to loan to Rowan.

Attending training every day and watching the team train from the sidelines can be quite a challenge on the mind and the important thing is not to rush back from injury and to make sure you’re 100% fit before returning to the field.

In the meantime, Kenzo, who was dogged by injury last season, has finally returned to full fitness and taken part in Toyota Shokki Shuttles’ pre-season fixtures. With Shuttles stalwart fly-half Murray Williams out with injury and then subsequently being selected in the Japan National Squad, Kenzo has been thrown into the starting fly-half position. So far, it’s been a mixed bag of results with two wins over Teikyo University and Honda, and then three losses to Sanix, Yamaha and last year’s Top League champions – Panasonic (formerly Sanyo). Two more games follow this pre-season before the long-awaited Summer break!

Off the field, Shuttles have recruited two new players in Filipino captain and full back Michael Letts and former Worcester Warriors lock, Will Bowley. From an Asian rugby perspective, it’s great to see a Filipino international join the Japanese rugby scene and we look forward to more Hong Kong and Asian internationals joining us here in the near future.    

See you guys soon!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

June 2011   

Hello Again!

This month has been very different for three of us – while Mark has been mainly in the gym, doing rehab exercises and trying to mend his injuries, Rowan has been playing in the Asian Five Nations with Hong Kong, and in the meantime Kenzo has been back in Japan with the team for preseason. Over in Japan we have been watching Hong Kong’s A5N campaign with great interest!

Rowan helps Hong Kong claim A5N’s second spot

Hong Kong got off to a great start winning their away game in Kazakhstan, a hard fought game by all accounts with Hong Kong bringing home the win. They then went on to play Japan where they played exceptionally well and kept Japan under 50 points with Rowan scoring a run away try in the second half – picking up a dropped pass and running across the pitch metres from his own line to score! Rowan also helped Hong Kong secure another win with a try in his adopted hometown Sri Lanka. Hong Kong then trounced the UAE 62-3 to secure second place – the highest ever finish in the A5N history. But he was not able to play a part in the UAE match after injuring his shoulder in the previous game.

Kenzo prepares preseason in Japan 

Over in Japan, Kenzo has been working hard in preseason since early April. With two new coaches to the team they have been changing things up a bit to suit their style of play. This year Shokki’s main target is to get promoted back up to the Top League. The preseason got off to a bad start with a big 78-12 loss to Sanix. Only one way to go from that loss – upwards! Rowan will no longer be with us in Japan as he has decided to start his professional career as a lawyer so we are down to two and no doubt we will miss him over there but we probably will not be eating as much curry as we did last year!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

May 2011  

Hello from Kazakhstan!

We arrived here in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Wednesday night after a 20-hour journey which took us through Thailand. The stereotypes that people have about this country are misplaced – it is actually a really beautiful place! Yesterday we went up one of the snow covered mountains that we can see from our hotel room and saw the facilities built for the 2011 Winter Asian Games which was held here. 

We have had a couple of relatively light training sessions to iron out a few things before the big game. Kazakhstan are the team to beat in Asian rugby at the moment (taking Japan aside, who are a tier higher than the rest of us). Their side is physical and will look to dominate the game with their size. We have never beaten them away so it is a huge ask for us, but there is a newfound confidence in the side that we can achieve that this year, so fingers crossed! 

We are staying in the Intercontinental, which is outstanding! Almaty used to be the capital of Kazakhstan, but it is still small compared to Hong Kong, with a population of only 2 million. There is a lot left over from the Soviet days here, which makes for interesting viewing. It looks like there are a few ski resorts up in the mountains, but unfortunately we would not be able to give that a go with the game coming up!

See you at the Asian Five Nations!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

Japan, April 2011

Greetings and Konnichiwa once again from Japan! 

With January comes a disappointing end of the season for Toyota Shokki. With only one win from all of our 13 Top League games, it shows the strength of the other teams in Top League and the gap between the first and second division in Japan.

Our final game of the season was against Kobe Steel and despite racing out to a 7-0 lead early on, Kobe turned on the gas and eventually stormed away with a 61-7 victory. The match also doubled up as Japan legend and world record try scorer, Daisuke Ohata’s final Top League match.

Next season will see Toyota Shokki relegated back to the 2^nd Division regional leagues. Despite not winning too often on the field, we are all very honoured to have been able to play professionally in the Japan Top League this season. Hopefully we can all return to help Shokki regain promotion to the Top League next season!

With the season finished it allowed us to travel, explore and enjoy some other things Japan has to offer.  We visited two of Japan’s finest skiing resorts and were able to see some of the most spectacular views “IN THE WORLD……”    The end of the season also brings with it a long desired rest which we have all been looking forward to and an opportunity to play in the final leg of the Hong Kong Club competition and prepare for the Hong Kong Sevens and Asian Five Nations tournaments. Hopefully you will see all three of us playing for Hong Kong in the near future.

See you next season!

Kenzo, Mark & Rowan

Japan, Feb 2011

Konnichiwa and greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun yet again!

Season’s second half has resumed

The second half of the season has just resumed after a month long break. The Top league took a break for the November international window which saw a number of Top league players representing their home countries.  Toyota Shokki’s own Ifereimi Rawaqa went to Europe and played a huge role to help Fiji draw 16-16 against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. Whilst Rowan and Mark went off to the Asian Games during the break (where they picked up a Silver for Hong Kong), Kenzo stayed back in Japan with the team, training hard and playing a few internal matches. 

The last few games will prove very important, Shokki will have to win our last two games to have a chance of staying in the Top league next season. That challenge begins tomorrow on Christmas Day when we take on Coca-Cola!

See you next month!

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

Japan, Dec 2010

Konnichiwa everyone, welcome back!

This month has been a bit of a roller coaster ride in more ways than one. On the pitch, we experienced the highs of strong performances against Tokyo-based Kubota and Fukuoka Sanix Blues, but also the lows of being at the wrong end of a heavy defeat to Eddie Jones' Suntory Sungoliath. Off the pitch, some of us were lucky enough to ride the less metaphorical roller coasters of Disneyland and Universal Studios!

The month started in the worst of ways, with Suntory taking out their frustration on an at times 12 man Toyota Jido Shokki Shuttles. We have paid the price this season for ill-discipline, and in the Suntory game alone had four yellow cards, one of which resulted in a red card. Playing against the 'top 4' teams in the top league (namely Suntory, Toyota Motors, Sanyo Wild Knights and Toshiba Brave Lupus) is akin to travelling to Old Trafford or Anfield in the English Premier League at the best of times. It becomes a fair bit harder when you hand the opposition a three man advantage! Needless to say, we ran out 92-8 losers and quickly forgot that result. The only consolation was that Rowan picked up his second try in as many starts, and with only Toyota Motors from those big four left to play this season, at least things were looking up.

The ironic thing about playing rugby professionally is that despite being immersed in the game, you rarely have the time off to watch others play, given that the weekend is our busiest time. The plus side is that our days off fall mid-week, which gave us the perfect chance to check out Universal Studios in Osaka, and Disneyland in Tokyo. Both are huge, carbon copies of their American counterparts, and a lot of fun! Toyota Shokki is based in Nagoya, which is a largely industrial city in the heart of Japan. Despite being Japan's fourth largest city, it has a population of less than two million, which is small considering Japan has a population of 120 million. Osaka, which is 50 minutes away by bullet train is larger and vastly more 'western'. Tokyo speaks for itself, being one of the big international cities in the world. We have taken our opportunities to get to either of these, to get a brief respite from the monotony of training every day!

Back on the pitch, with confidence falling but expectations rising, we fell in the last 20 minutes to an unorthodox Sanix team. Sanix have a peculiar style of playing, which is heavily influenced by the sevens game which is so popular in Hong Kong. It proved to be effective against us, although our performance was much improved on the week before. Mark started and had the difficult task of looking after centre Kosei Ono, who has represented Japan and has an eye for a gap. Needless to say Mark dealt with him!

There comes a point in every good roller coaster ride where you really are not sure what is going to happen next, and for us this was our game against Kubota. With both teams sitting at the bottom of the table and needing a win to kick start their recovery, Shokki started the brighter and should have put the game away with half an hour to go. Things were looking up with 20 minutes left to play, and a 35-12 scoreline in our favour. However, a combination of woeful defending and calm determination from substitute Shane Drahm of Kubota, saw Kubota snatch the victory with the last play of the game. Final score 38-35, and confidence at an all time low.

Our final game of this half of the season was against Ricoh Black Rams. For a team that can boast legend Stephen Larkham at 15, and All Black Tameti Ellison at 13, Ricoh were perhaps underachieving in the season so far. Shokki competed until the 60 minute mark, where the Black Rams substitutes made the difference in gaining forward momentum earning them an easy victory in the end.

The top league takes a break for a month now. We cannot help but be disappointed, with our performances so far, but it is a learning curve and a steep one at that. Hong Kong Sevens legend and our old coach Roddy MacIntosh used to have a saying to go something like 'you've lost the game, but don't lose the lesson'. Roddy had some great one liners, but this one is the one that fits. If we can take from our losses and learn what we have done wrong then, with fingers crossed, we can get back on the ride and hope for more highs than lows in the second half of the season!

Cheers,

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

Nagoya, Japan

Oct 2010

Konnichiwa and Greetings again from Japan!

Season kicked off

This past month the Japanese Top League has finally gotten down to business and the regular season has kicked off.  The first weekend of the season sees each team play each other in order of how they finished last year. Last year’s champions Toshiba kicked off the season against last year’s runners up Sanyo. Our Toyota Shokki team played against fellow newcomers to the Top League NTT Communications.

Mark’s outstanding tackle

NTT Communications beat us last year in the final promotion match and since that time went on a big spending spree recruiting big names such as former Australian rugby league international Craig Wing to a team already including Wallaby Mark Gerrard. As it was the first game of the season, and one of our most realistic chances of winning, the NTT game was built up as a very important test. The game was played at the J-League football team Nagoya Grampus’ home ground - Toyota Stadium in Nagoya. Mark was lucky enough to be in the starting lineup for this game and played an outstanding role in Shokki’s first ever win in the Top League, winning by 17-16. Mark’s impressive tackling and ability to turnover ball was a key reason for Shokki’s win.

Rowan’s debut and only try for Shokki in week 3

The second week of the season brought Shokki back down to earth with a tough 54-0 loss to last year’s runners-up, Sanyo Wild Knights. This game emphasized clearly how tough the Top League really is, and it didn’t get much easier in our 3^rd week with a match against last year’s champions Toshiba Brave Lupus. Rowan was given his starting debut against the champions and managed to create history when he became the first Hong Kong player to score a try in the Japanese Top League. Rowan’s try was the only try of the game for Shokki as we went down 40-7.

Kenzo’s comeback and scored tries

The Top League took a break this week and commences again at the beginning of October. Shokki played a practice game this weekend against Top West side Chuden, which saw Kenzo is make his long awaited comeback from injury. It was a rather one sided affair, with Shokki running out 106-19 winners. Rowan picked up five first half tries, and Kenzo closed out the game from fly half, converting the last few Shokki tries emphatically! 

The Top League is not going to get much easier for us as we take on Eddie Jones’ Suntory Sungoliath – a team also including George Gregan, Ryan Nicholas, Peter Hewat and Todd Clever.

If you want to keep even more up to date with our results, please follow us on the RugbyAsia channel, via Facebook.

Until next time, jaa mate ne!

Cheers,

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

Nagoya, Japan

Sep 2010

Greetings from Japan!

In April this year, we moved to Japan to play for the Toyota Industries rugby team in the Japanese Top League, also known as the Toyota Jido Shokki Shuttles.  All of us have been involved with Hong Kong National Rugby for the past few years, and will continue to be involved. Throughout this blog, we will be talking about our different experiences – both on and off the field.

The Japanese Top League: It is made up of 14 corporate rugby teams with the majority of the players being full-time company workers, but given special allowance to take a few hours off a day for training and playing rugby.

Every team in the Top League recruits a number of foreigners to boost their playing ranks and this year, the Top League will see a number of household rugby names plying their trade here in Japan. George Gregan and American stalwart Todd Clever will turn out for Suntory Sungoliath whilst the Ricoh Black Rams include Stephen Larkham and recent All Black Tamati Ellison.

Our company:

Toyota Jido Shokki is based in Kariya City just out of Nagoya. We are new to the Top League this year, having won the Top West Division last season. There are 50 players on the books, with 40 of them being company workers during the day and the rest being professional rugby players.

Our Company produces specific car parts for Toyota Motors as well as making forklifts. Some of the players work in the factories during the day, or sit behind desks and look busy behind computers!

Preseason:

It has been much longer (5 months) and tougher than we have experienced before. We have played numerous games, including a 10-day Summer camp in ski country, Hokkaido.

Unfortunately, there was no skiing done up there, but plenty of running and training in the cooler northern Japanese climate.

Debut:

This week Toyota Jido Shokki Shuttleswill make their Top League debut against fellow newcomers NTT Communications Shining Arcs who include former Wallaby Mark Gerard and Filipino passport holder and former Australian rugby league international, Craig Wing.

See you next month with more reports from Japan!

Cheers,

Mark, Rowan and Kenzo

Nagoya, Japan

Aug 2010