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Japan Doesn't Want Super Rugby
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<blockquote data-quote="feicarsinn" data-source="post: 266791"><p>Japan head coach John Kirwan has insisted that officials in the country have no interest in forming part of the Super Rugby expansion. With contract negotiation between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia reaching breaking point earlier in the year many speculated that incorporating the well-financed Japanese in to the competition would allow for a new structure should South African involvement end.</p><p></p><p> Negotiations were concluded between the parties last month, with a 15th franchise set to be based in Australia and the season extended.</p><p></p><p> "We don't want to (play in Super Rugby) because we have 20 of the biggest sponsors in the world which spends between $US5-6 million on rugby teams," Kirwan told AAP. "So I can't see the point in having one franchise in Tokyo, all we're going to do is annoy Toyota which has a $US1 billion marketing budget."</p><p></p><p> "We don't see it has any future. We believe in a strong home competition. We need to keep it strong so we have 200 or 300 Japanese playing at a high level. We're doing that through getting Georgie Gregan and Steve Larkham up there this year. Our competition is getting better year in, year out. I thinkSuper Rugby, in its current format, would break that down."</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/98067.html?CMP=RSS2" target="_blank">http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/98067.html?CMP=RSS2</a></p><p></p><p>Well I guess thats a blow for any expansion of Super Rugby into Japan. You can see their point, a strong domestic league is the first step towards being truly competitive internationally but I think Kirwan may be overstating the Top League's strength. Look at Italy after all. A pro set up doesn't mean a strong league as we see when the likes of Calvisano, Viadana and Treviso get regularly wiped in Europe. Also the Japanese season is very short with competition beginning in late October and ending in early February. Surely there has to be some way to arrange it so that the league can be run fully with an amalgamated team then going on to compete in Super rugby?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="feicarsinn, post: 266791"] Japan head coach John Kirwan has insisted that officials in the country have no interest in forming part of the Super Rugby expansion. With contract negotiation between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia reaching breaking point earlier in the year many speculated that incorporating the well-financed Japanese in to the competition would allow for a new structure should South African involvement end. Negotiations were concluded between the parties last month, with a 15th franchise set to be based in Australia and the season extended. "We don't want to (play in Super Rugby) because we have 20 of the biggest sponsors in the world which spends between $US5-6 million on rugby teams," Kirwan told AAP. "So I can't see the point in having one franchise in Tokyo, all we're going to do is annoy Toyota which has a $US1 billion marketing budget." "We don't see it has any future. We believe in a strong home competition. We need to keep it strong so we have 200 or 300 Japanese playing at a high level. We're doing that through getting Georgie Gregan and Steve Larkham up there this year. Our competition is getting better year in, year out. I thinkSuper Rugby, in its current format, would break that down." [url="http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/98067.html?CMP=RSS2"]http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/98067.html?CMP=RSS2[/url] Well I guess thats a blow for any expansion of Super Rugby into Japan. You can see their point, a strong domestic league is the first step towards being truly competitive internationally but I think Kirwan may be overstating the Top League's strength. Look at Italy after all. A pro set up doesn't mean a strong league as we see when the likes of Calvisano, Viadana and Treviso get regularly wiped in Europe. Also the Japanese season is very short with competition beginning in late October and ending in early February. Surely there has to be some way to arrange it so that the league can be run fully with an amalgamated team then going on to compete in Super rugby? [/QUOTE]
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