Japan to meet Super demands

SANZAR has written to the Japan Rugby Football Union seeking clarification that they have signed sufficient players to guarantee their place in next year's 18-team Super Rugby competition.

JRFU general secretary Noriyuki Sakamoto told Kyodo News that Japan would meet the August 31 deadline SANZAR had set to have signed a certain proportion of its 35-strong playing roster.

While SANZAR acting chief executive Brendan Morris said he was pleased to hear the media reports, it did not necessarily mean Japan was off the hook.

"We're proposing they compete in the toughest cross-border rugby competition in the world, so I've written to them asking for clarification of who they've signed," said Morris.

If, as the reports suggest, the 29 players are mainly from the national side, then that almost certainly would satisfy SANZAR's demand.

However, if it turns out that the bulk of the recruits are university players, then Japan would not yet be out-of-the-woods.

The SANZAR board has done an enormous amount of work laying the groundwork for a Japanese entry into the tournament, and former SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters stressed last month that too much had been invested in the project to allow it to fail.

However, if the unthinkable did happen and the Japan entry collapsed, the preference still would be to stage an 18-team competition.

Given that Singapore was ruled out, along with Hong Kong, it's unlikely another bid from Asia could be made viable in time for next year.

Hong Kong in particular made it clear that although it did not consider itself ready just yet, it was very interested in fielding a Super Rugby team.

Japan has been entered into one of the two South African conferences, but there is virtually no chance of the republic being able to replace it.

South African rugby is already being pushed to the limit, fielding six teams, lacking the capacity to field a viable seventh.

Part of Japan's problem is that because of legal complexities, the organisation that has been set up to run Super Rugby in the country, the Japanese Super Rugby Association, did not come into being until April.

Effectively, no work could be done on preparing a team until it was formed.