Japanese Rugby team will be entertaining

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31676, 11 May 1968, Page 11

Japanese Rugby team will be entertaining

rpHE Japanese Rugby team x which will begin its 12match tour of New Zealand today against Otago University is certain to create a great deal of interest The last Japanese team in New Zealand was the Doshisha University side of 1966 which played some brilliant Rugby and attracted very large crowds to its games.

By any standards the touring side hardly compares with the accepted norm; some local club coaches probably wpuld look askance at the size of some of the forwards. M. Ishida, a loose forward is sft 4in and weighs 9st 131 b. The tallest forward is M. Horikoshi, a lock who is 6ft lin, and he also is the

heaviest player at 13st 51b. H. Ogasawara, another lock, is the only other forward of 6ft or more than 13 stone.

However, the mobility of the Japanese forwards will test the team they meet, and' in common with their application in other fields, they are quick to adopt any new techniques or adapt existing ones. The backs can be expected to display some superb attacking Rugby. The Doshisha team in 1966 produced bewildering mid-field moves that Mr F. R. Allen would have admired. The backs’ handling was immaculate, the running purposeful and the moves skilfully planned and confidently executed.

The Japanese team will play a combined Canterbury University-Lincoln College side at Lancaster Park on May 22.