rugby union

Kirwan under fire for using too many foreign-born players

21 Comments

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21 Comments
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Can't say I disagree here. If you're trying to grow the sport in Japan you need to have a grass-roots movement of home-grown players regardless of their skill-level. Rather than waste the money on the foreign talent, try sending the Japanese overseas to learn the game. Not sure Japan is ready for a world-cup in 2019, but it doesn't mean they can't do it. Good luck Japan.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Surely those that gained Japanese nationality are now Japanese and not Foreigners

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Haha, a [insert nationality]-Japanese will always be a foreigner first.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Can't disagree here! The Cherries looked like a bunch of ring-ins. Few other sports would allow this. Rugby seems to be struggling to make an imprint world-wide these days...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Get in there Eddie and clean this Kiwi mess up...learn a lesson Japan when it comes to the world cup you dont pick Nz'ers to get you there...far and away best players on the planet for the last 30 years and won it twice.....all the Aussies are so jealous and full to the brim with hate..

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Trouble is Japan doesnt have the grass roots to nuture and cultivate home grown players, if these foreigners have obtained Japanese nationality that means they are Japanese and not foreigners in the eyes of the law, if this old git yabe and his crowd want to live in the racial dark ages then go right ahead but your rugby will stay in the dark ages too.

Untill Japan implements proper junior competitions and the the support they need to cultivate & grow top level players then you will have to rely on "IMPORTS".

Australia relys on imports to bolster it's ranks so does England now too.

Unless the powers that be at the top of Japan rugby wake up and either start spending money and growing the sport starting at primary school etc , and seeing you dont want imports in your team improving the national teams ranking and results will be like trying to land on the moon with out leaving planet earth - IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN.

And I notice some one eyed posters taking a sly poke at the Kiwis, time to grow up mate. Eddie Jones is a world cup loser mate beaten by england .

3 ( +3 / -0 )

“Some argued that we had too many foreigners.”

And the oyaji knives come out to stab Kirwin in the back on his way out the door....

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"Kirwan picked a record 10 foreign-born players, half of whom have obtained Japanese nationality"

That means he picked 5 foreign players, hardly a large number.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

With the greatest of respect to the ancient Japanese men doing the post-mortem of why Japan was abysmal at rugby, it would be wise to realise that if ALL 15 players on the pitch were Japanese born-and-bred they would have been belted by 1000 points in each game... there just isn't the talent here. Ask any Japanese person on the street to name a Japanese rugby player - not ONE will come up with a name. Guaranteed. Kirwan did his best with what he had - there just isn't the cattle here.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Well, let's think about this for a second... in the only game they came close to winning, with Canada, with used more foreign-born players than before. The other games they lost quite badly with less foreign-born players. So that's the coach's fault? It amazes me how people will blame anything and everything on a coach, or give the coach complete credit if they 'win a victory'.

Fine. Ban all foreign players and watch Japan's rankings slide to whatever times worse than now they could possibly slide to. The 'Brave Blossoms' have to address their lack of talent, not berate the coach-of-the-day in order to shirk the blame for their extremely poor performance over the past three decades.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

BurakuminDes: "Ask any Japanese person on the street to name a Japanese rugby player - not ONE will come up with a name."

A VERY good point. Mind you, if you said this to a Japanese they would just say, "Yappari gaijin da!" and turn on Sumo (then turn it off when they realized all the wrestlers are from Mongolia or Russia.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

There is a similar issue that exploded during the French games earlier on this year. There was complaints amongst the fans and even within the French team about how half or more then half of the team are none-whites. As well as anti-white discrimination amongst it's coach which erupted a huge debate about race and what it means to be French in France. Seems as if the Japanese have similar problems.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yep. What's the point of having a national team if none of them is from that nation? Imagine the Olympics team makeup. Yikes. And France indeed is a shame. They no longer resemble any France from history but maybe the United States in a more racist, less inclusive version.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Witch hunt!!

Don't take the job Eddie, you'll have great success for the next four years because Japan can only continue getting better, but in the end it will all be measured on WC success, and you'll be lynched.

The reason why New Zealand won the WC this year is because they finally didn't go on a witch hunt after loosing in 2007 and kept Henry at the reins. Japan would have been much wiser to do the same. Now we have to start all over again with Eddie, and then who next after 2015?

Japan was ranked 19th in the world when JK came on board. 4 years later after winning the PNC they were 11th. High enough to get regular games with Scotland and Italy. Get rid of the foriegn players and they'll slip back down to 18-19, and will never improve.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Geez...it would have been a cricket score if they hadn't have used the foreign born players against N.Z. If he hadn't of picked foreigners and the score was an ar5ewhipping they would have been complaining that he didn't pick enough.

One way to assist in developing a stronger union in Japan would be hiring more foreign coaches instead of sticking with mostly Japanese coaches in the top leagues. That way they will be getting A class coaching all across the board and not only when they reach the national team level. The japanese coaches can be used as assistants. Some of the japanese coaches have no idea on how to coach the defensive side of rugby.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Does the JRFU really want another foreigner involved in the national team (Eddie Jones) or do they want a Japanese to head the coaching? They are complaining about the number of foreigners in the team now.

Let them wallow in their own sh!t then maybe they;ll see they just arnt good enough to compete on the world stage, stick to your pissy little company rugby team competition and go no where, enjoy it you racist mugs.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

They needed a reason that they didn't reach their highly unlikely expectations for the World Cup. Stating that their sights were set too high wouldn't work, and neither would saying they just weren't good enough. But blaming it about people who are not "pure" Japanese in the team... there's an excuse all the people high up in the hierarchies can agree with.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@Hategobo

Surely those that gained Japanese nationality are now Japanese and not Foreigners

Legally, yes. But it is a little more complicated than that. They are still foreign born players, which is different to native born players. In some places, becoming a citizen makes you a part of that "group" of people. But this is not always true in Japan, where being Japanese is dependent upon attending Japanese schools and having other Japanese recognize you as one of them. When these players are on the pitch together, there is no way to distinguish between those born overseas and have naturalized and those who have not. I am not saying whether or not this is correct, or if it is up to 21st century standards, I'm just saying this is the way things generally are, for better or for worse.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

At the end of the day it's just Japan showing another example of it's racist views and behaviour, accpet foreigners as people because sooner or later without us foreigners you and your country are doomed, Japan is not sustainable on it's own by it's own, Japanese just need to face the fact and move forward with the real world.

Shame really that they are so narrow minded and racist coz this country and its people could be fanatastic.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

To be serious for a second,I dont see why people are getting heated up....these guys have the equally impossible mission of not only making their TEAM better but the GAME more popular..and the comment is definitely geared to the latter. Theres no future for the game here if they stick to the same road they've been on since 1984..its catch 22 right now, your TEAM doesnt get better without a pool of real talent to draw upon and your GAME wont get more popular without that pool of talent being people that the potentials can relate, aspire to and become part of that pool..foreigners in the side are just a band-aid solution covering symptoms that need major transplants...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The French (or English, or Dutch, or even now German) non-white or non-traditional football (soccer) players were all either born in the country or came as young children and were brought up there and learned the game there. That is very different from established adult players adopting a new country, as has happened in Japanese football with a few Brazilians and seems to have happened a lot with Japanese rugby. Very different situation.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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