Farrell and Itoje are targets for Japan’s Top League
Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje have been placed at the top of the wishlist of Japan’s Top League, which is seeking to expand its profile massively following the success of the 2019 World Cup.
Eddie Jones is also likely to be a target after his contract with the England rugby team expires following the 2023 World Cup. The Top League season begins this weekend after a near 12-month hiatus caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The competition is already home to a galaxy of stars including Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Michael Hooper and Kieran Read. Until recently the Top League has almost exclusively recruited from the southern hemisphere, however
former England players George Kruis and Alex Goode as well as exscotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw are at the vanguard of a growing British contingent.
The success of the England team in reaching the 2019 World Cup final staged in Japan has significantly grown their profile in the Far East.
With the competition undergoing major reforms, Top League chairman Osamu Ota is hoping to make it an irresistible destination for the world’s top stars. “We have George Kruis and we also have Alex Goode at another team,” Ota told The Daily Telegraph. “They are current international players for England which is a great thing for us. In addition to them, if we can have Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell in the future in our league that would be a great thing for us. We also have Greig Laidlaw.
“Those European players are very popular in Japan. I want to make our league an attractive league so that every player, wherever they are, will give consideration to coming here at some point in their career.”
The profile of any England player still pales into insignificance to that of Jones, who led Japan to the giantkilling of South Africa at the 2015 World Cup. Already a consultant at Suntory Sungoliath, Jones, currently in the middle of the Six Nations with England, would receive a hero’s welcome if he decided to return to Japan after the next World Cup in France.
“He definitely was a key role in our success in 2015 when we beat South Africa in the World Cup,” Ota said. “He coaches at the high level and would benefit our league with his experience. After he becomes world champion with the England team at the next World Cup, we would like to welcome him back to Japan!”
Unlike in Europe, Japanese clubs are attached to global corporations such as Honda, Toshiba and Toyota. As such they have been relatively immune to the retrenchment that English club rugby is experiencing with the Premiership salary cap coming down by £1.4million for next season. Not only can Japanese clubs provide greater security and remuneration but they offer a far less taxing schedule with a season that typically runs from January through to May.
Next season will herald a new format and sweeping changes. Clubs will be given control of ticket sales and local broadcasting rights and urged to invest in training facilities. At present the split between professional players and amateurs, who work for the corporations, is around 50-50. That is likely to change while the fiveforeign player limit for match-day squads is also under discussion.
Clubs will target younger foreign players who can qualify for Japan through ancestry or residency.