Sunwolves react to Super axing
REACTION: The Sunwolves have called on their fans to continue standing by them, following their axing from Super Rugby.
The Japanese franchise will be axed from the SANZAAR competition from 2021, the governing body said on Friday.
This dealt a heavy blow to Asian rugby just six months before Japan hosts the continent’s first World Cup.
The Sunwolves were introduced in 2016 to bring rugby to new markets, but SANZAAR said it wasn’t prepared to bankroll the perennial wooden-spooners after Japan’s rugby board withdrew financial support.
“On behalf of the whole Sunwolves family we are obviously very disappointed by this decision,” Japan SR Association CEO Yuji Watase said.
“The Sunwolves have been involved in Super Rugby since 2016 and remain a very important piece in the high-performance landscape for rugby in Japan.
“We wish to thank all our loyal supporters and fans who are the best supporters in Super Rugby for all their continued support.
“We further ask they stick with us till the end of 2020 to ensure Japan Rugby is at the forefront of the international game both on and off the field of play.”
The Sunwolves statement said the team, players, staff and management will continue to focus on this season and every match striving to grow their game and the brand of the Sunwolves.
“SANZAAR was advised by the Japan Rugby Football Union in early March that they would no longer be in a position to financially underwrite the Sunwolves’ future participation post-2020,” SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos said.
Reports say much of the opposition to Asia’s first Super Rugby team came from South Africa, whose teams disliked the long trips to Tokyo and Singapore for the Sunwolves’ home games.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said SANZAAR had told the Sunwolves to pay a “non-negotiable” participation fee of about ¥1-billion (US$9-million) a year to stay in Super Rugby.
The Tokyo-based team were introduced with great fanfare along with Argentina’s Jaguares in 2016 as Super Rugby, seeking new audiences, expanded to 18 teams.
Both teams survived a cull when the tournament shrank back to 15 sides in 2018, after the sprawling, time-zone-hopping new format proved unwieldy for teams and fans.
But results on the pitch were slow in coming for the Sunwolves, who were embarrassed 92-17 by the Cheetahs in their first season – before winning a breakthrough first victory, against the Jaguares, the following week.
Two more wins followed in 2017, improving to three in 2018, but with a litany of heavy defeats along the way, including a 7-94 loss to the Lions in 2017.
Now in their fourth season, they won away for the first time earlier this month, beating the Chiefs 30-15 for just their seventh win in 51 games.
The Sunwolves have also faced criticism about the number of non-Japanese in their team, raising questions over their core mission to develop home-grown players.
* Notable moments during their short spell in the southern hemisphere’s elite club rugby competition:
The Sunwolves won their berth in Super Rugby courtesy of the sport looking to expand its global footprint into Asia for the 2016 season.
It followed a flurry of interest in the wake of Japan’s best ever World Cup, but the team initially struggled to find a suitable head coach and put together a competitive playing group.
Eddie Jones, now in charge of England, had been lined up as coach but walked away, with former All Blacks hooker Mark Hammett finally appointed barely two months before the tournament began.
An experienced 34-man squad was eventually unveiled, including 10 of the Japan squad that had played at the recent World Cup along with a mix of other nationalities.
They gave a good account of themselves in front of a 25,000 full house in Tokyo in their opening game in February 2016, with a predicted bloodbath failing to materialise.
They went down to South Africa’s Lions 13-26 with Hammett saying: “We can always handle losing if we know the players have given everything.”
They needed to get used to defeat, as wins would prove a rare commodity.
The Sunwolves scored a momentous first victory in front of their home fans in April 2016 with a pulsating 36-28 battle against Argentine new boys the Jaguares.
It was largely down to Samoan flyhalf Tusi Pisi who booted 18 points to give his team a glimmer of hope after a torrid start to their first season.
“To get this historic win in Japan is very special,” captain Shota Horie said.
The breakthrough win came on the back of a humiliating 92-17 thrashing by the Cheetahs the week before, which promoted Jones to slam the team’s lack of depth as “embarrassing”.
Their celebrations were short-lived – it was the only win in their debut season, which also saw one draw and 13 defeats.
The Sunwolves’ woeful form continued into 2017, when they won just two of 15 games, and 2018, where they managed just three victories. It sparked growing calls for them to be kicked out of the competition.
Critics pointed to their poor record and the fact they relied so heavily on imports – with players from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Fiji, Tonga, Georgia and South Korea having pulled on the red shirt.
Dissenters argued that this defeated a key reason for including the Sunwolves in the first place: to help grow rugby in Asia.
“We want to play Japanese rugby, which is an expansive style with a lot of skill and speed,” insisted current coach Tony Brown – their fourth in as many seasons – ahead of the 2019 campaign.
After three long years of trying, the Sunwolves finally scored a win away from home with a 30-15 upset of the Chiefs earlier this month.
A year ago, the Chiefs thrashed the Sunwolves 61-10, with the unexpected win finally proving progress. It followed the Japanese side going within a point of upsetting the NSW Waratahs the previous weekend.
“The boys hung in and I’m proud of the way we stuck it out to the end,” said Sunwolves flyhalf Hayden Parker, who converted all three tries and added three penalties.
However, the win came just weeks before the team learned it would be sent into exile after next season.
AFP & @rugby365com
