The Japan Rugby League One tournament might not be very familiar to the South African public, but it has played a significant role in the Springboks’ success.
If you had asked me 10 years ago if a Test player plying his trade in Japan would still be good enough to be selected for the Boks, I probably would’ve said no.
That was an ignorant view because the Japanese game was not seen as a quality competition to the general public, compared to Super Rugby, Pro 12 (now URC) and Top 14 at the time.
When Japan caused the upset of the century by defeating the Boks in their opening match of the 2015 World Cup, the public started to take note that they weren’t a minnow team anymore.
Much of that stemmed from Japanese players playing with seasoned internationals and being coached by top-class coaches who had success at the highest levels of the game.
Former Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who represented Sungoliath at the time, warned the Boks before the Japan defeat that they shouldn’t take their opposition lightly.
“Eddie [Jones] has been preparing for this World Cup for four years and for this game for a while too,” the 2007 World Cup winner said.
“We won’t be underestimating Japan, and hopefully that can filter through to our team so that there is no risk of complacency.”
Unfortunately, Du Preez’s warning fell on deaf ears, but four years later the Boks strengthened their relationship with Japan.
They played Japan in a warm-up match before the 2019 World Cup before meeting them again in the quarterfinals, where they got their 2015 ‘revenge’ before the Boks went on to clinch their third world title.
In recent years, we have seen the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Damian de Allende, Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jesse Kriel, Jasper Wiese, Kwagga Smith, Cheslin Kolbe and the latest being Kurt-Lee Arendse all playing for respective Japanese clubs.
The beauty of it is that none of the above-mentioned players have dropped an inch of their game.
If anything, it appears that the five-month tournament made them better Test players and increased their career longevity.
Pieter-Steph du Toit has been with Verblitz since 2022 and yet won the 2024 World Rugby Player of the Year.
Cheslin Kolbe, who represents Tokyo Sungoliath, was also nominated for the prestigious accolade and recently won the South African Rugby Player of the Year award.
Japan should be seen as an option for established Test players who are heading into the golden years of their careers as an option to earn a good salary, manage their physical workload and ultimately extend the longevity of their Test careers.
