Calls are growing louder for Japan to be included in a cross-border Super Rugby competition with tensions between Australia and New Zealand still present.
Rugby Australia have threatened to split from New Zealand Rugby to set up a domestic-only tournament following the 2023 season.
Broadcast revenue has been the sticking point for the Australian governing body, which sees them get around $60m less than their counterparts.
Satisfying all parties
The introduction of Japanese sides would certainly help that aspect and, as the Asian country seeks to improve both the quality of its league and national set-up, playing the might of the Aussies and Kiwis could leave all parties satisfied, according to Japan Rugby League One chairman Genichi Tamatsuka.
“We don’t know precisely the situation for the Super Rugby future and what kind of decisions people will make, however one thing that’s very obvious for us is that we need a cross-border type of competition to push up our quality of the league,” Tamatsuka told AAP.
“We continuously discuss with the many unions, other foreign leagues, and we aggressively seek the opportunity.
“We can have some sort of cross-border competition, some of our teams building to play in some of the competition, so those are the things we want to do but we haven’t made a final decision yet.”
Japan did have a team in Super Rugby following yet another competition expansion, with the Sunwolves making their debut in 2016, but the franchise disbanded in 2020.
The idea of having a Japanese side was not universally supported within the country, however, and the squad for the final campaign was primarily made up of foreign-born players.
Tamatsuka admits that they now need to develop their domestic league, however, and is looking at ways of improving Japanese rugby.
Wallabies fly-half lends his support
He has received support from Australia international Quade Cooper, who currently plies his trade with Kintetsu Liners, which is based in Osaka.
Cooper believes that a European model would work best, though, bringing the top qualifiers from each domestic league to form a Champions Cup-style tournament.
“Let’s get the top two teams from the Japan league, Super AU and Super Rugby NZ and play quarters, semis and a final,” Cooper said.
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“So it will be like Europe; play domestic competitions and then the European Rugby Champions Cup for the top six teams and the others could play in a Challenge Cup so there’s still something to play for them as well.
“There would be three domestic winners and then an Australasian champion, so it’s an interesting concept.”
