Deans lauds Top League
Japan is fast becoming the epicentre of world rugby with formerwallabies coach Robbie Deans declaring the Top League the ‘‘new destination of choice’’ because of its unique, back-to-the-future model and the country’s wholesome lifestyle.
With the world’s premier players and coaches flocking to Japan in droves, Deans says the Top League is rapidly approaching the standards of Super Rugby.
The 2021 season, kicking off this weekend, will feature no fewer than a dozenwallabies, led by skipper Michael Hooper at Toyota Verblitz, All Blacks superstars Beauden Barrett and Kieran Read and six of the Springboks’ 2019 World
Cup winners.
Twelve of the 16 clubs boast overseas head coaches, including Deans at the Panasonicwild Knights and former Melbourne Rebels mentor Damien Hill at Ricoh.
Throw in the fact that Eddie Jones (Suntory), Wayne Smith (Kobe) and Sir Steve Hansen (Toyota) are on the payrolls as coaching consultants and the Top League is a veritable smorgasbord of talent, experience and smarts.
‘‘The standard’s good. It’s very good and it’s getting better and better,’’ Deans told AAP from Japan.
‘‘From when I arrived up here [in 2014], it’s unrecognisable.
‘‘You bump into players that you’ve coached and also coached against routinely over here. It’s hard to keep up with player movements, to be fair.’’
The biggest improvement, Deans says, is player conditioning as a result of the influx of quality coaches.
‘‘It’s an endless list of foreign coaches up here – international coaches across half the comp,’’ he said. ‘‘You combine that with the IP that comes with internationals – current and former – but also Super Rugby players and now there’s even more of a push from the north. ‘‘Post the [Japan 2019] World Cup, the word is out on the quality of life here so there’s a lot of interest coming from the northern hemisphere for players to finish their careers here.
‘‘It’s fascinating, really. We didn’t sort of come here with the intent to be here so long but we’ve enjoyed it and hence we’re still here.’’
What Deans findsmost appealing – and intriguing – about the competition is the format and the spread of talent across the teams. The 23-man match-day squads can only include five foreign players, with amaximum of two overseas test stars.
‘‘It’s a greatmix when you have current internationals playing alongside each other where they’ve previously been competitors,’’ said the Crusaders’ five-times Super Rugby-winning coach.
‘‘It’s an element that’s unique but it also captures an element of the past.’’