No-plan Japan will miss the big lift-off

THE big question for Japan is whether the massive uplift in awareness of Rugby Union after the Brave Blossoms landmark victories over Ireland and Scotland brings increased participation, especially at schools level.

Japan coach Jamie Joseph and his inspirational team have raised the profile of the sport to the extent that it has eclipsed sumo, baseball, and football, but has the Japanese Rugby Union kept pace?

There is growing concern that JRU does not have the infrastructure in place at schools or club level to reap the benefits.

Shigetaka Mori, the JRU president, says no new initiatives have been nailed down regarding the running of schools and youth rugby.

The “Dream Beyond 2019 Future Plan” was hatched by the RWC Organising Committee and the JRU well over a year ago.

It came with a fanfare about working with the 12 World Cup host cities and district Rugby Unions to develop the grass-roots game and “sustainably spread rugby across Japan, among all age groups”.

It also talked about “Rugby Introduction Days” being held for preschool, elementary and junior high school children throughout 2018 “in collaboration with 178 rugby schools throughout the host cities”.

There are 30,000 primary and middle schools in Japan (for ages 6 to 12) and almost 5,000 high schools (ages13 to 18), so 178 rugby schools barely scratches the surface.

At the top end of the game in Japan there is also a lack of certainty, with the future of the Japanese Super Rugby franchise the Sunwolves as yet undecided – and the same applies to plans for a new 12-team Japan-wide professional league.

Put all this together, and the picture that emerges is that if there is radical growth in Rugby Union numbers in Japan it will be despite the infrastructure put in place during the decade the JRU has known it was hosting the tournament, rather than because of it.