Japan national rugby league team

"For the rugby union team of Japan see Japan national rugby union team."

Infobox rugby league nation
Name = Japan
Badge = Rugby_League_japan.gif‎
Badge_size = 100px
Nickname = Samurai
Association = Japanese Rugby League Association
Region = Asia
Coach = flagicon|Japan Amane Konishi
Captain = flagicon|Japan Noriyuki Tainaka
Most caps = Noriyuki Tainaka (9)
Top scorer =
Home Stadium =
RLIF Rank = 28th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_Vonwhite|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FF0000|socks1=FFFFFF
First game = flagicon|Lebanon Lebanon 52 - 28 Japan flagicon|Japan (1998)
Largest win = flagicon|Canada Canada 0 - 14 Japan flagicon|Japan (1999)
Largest loss = flagicon|USA United States 78 - 6 Japan flagicon|Japan (27 June 2003)
World cup apps =
World cup first =
World cup best = The Japan national rugby league team has been playing international competition since 1994. A regular domestic amateur competition has been held in Japan for several years (the first domestic competition kicked off in 1998). [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.geocities.jp/japaneserugbyleague/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=9&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJapanese%2Brugby%2Bleague%26hl%3Den%26hs%3Deba%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official_s%26sa%3DG] The first international team to visit Japan was a New South Wales Group 20 representative team in 1997, followed by Lebanon in 1998.

Competitions

Japan has participated in:

*World Sevens (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, plus the qualification tournament in 2003, 2004)
*Super League World Nines (1996, 1997)
*Emerging Nations Tournament (2000)

In 2002 and 2003 Japan contested the East-West Challenge in the United States of America. This has since been abandoned.

International Results

* Portugal RL def. Japan 28-16 (6 February 2008) as 10s match
* USA def. Japan 58-18 (28 October 2006)
* USA def. Japan 40-10 (26 January 2006)
* USA def. Japan 78-6 (27 June 2003)
* USA def. Japan 26-12 (1 June 2002)
* Canada def. Japan 28-12 (20 November 2000)
* Morocco def. Japan 12-8 (15 November 2000)
* BARLA (Great Britain Amateurs) 54 Japan 0 (2000)
* USA def. Japan 54-0 (1999)
* Japan def. Canada 14-0 (1999)
* Lebanon def. Japan 52-28 (1998)

World Sevens Results

* NASCA Aboriginals def. Japan 36-0 (24 January, 2003)
* USA Tomahawks def. Japan 28-4 (24 January, 2003)
* USA Tomahawks def. Japan 20-8 (1996)

International Nine's results

* 2008 Bowl Finalists Newtown 36 def. Japan 4Semi Final, Japan 22 Def. Portugal 6

The Team

Forwards

Noriyuki Tainaka (captain)

Hirofumi Kita

Benedict Pender

Mitsuo Takashino
Masanori Kazaoka

Norihiro Oriyama

Ryo Kondo

Shunsuke Tamura

Backs

Kazunobu Nakai (vice captain)

Kazunori Ijuin

Masamichi Itagaki

Narihisa Ushida

Mitsutaka Inuoe

Hiroshi Miyazaki

Jin Iguchi

Yasunori Oshima

http://www.geocities.jp/japaneserugbyleague/2006japan.htm

tudent Results

* USA def. Japan 54-10 (1996)

External links

http://www.geocities.jp/japaneserugbyleague/e/info.html