The Japan Rugby Football Union (Chairman: Shigetaka Mori, Minato-ku, Tokyo) is a victim of the large-scale eruption of the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai located in the northern part of Tonga on January 15, this year. We are pleased to inform you that the charity match “Japan Rugby Charity Match 2022 EMERGING BLOSSOMS vs TONGA SAMURAI XV” will be held for the purpose of relief and reconstruction support in the disaster area as follows.
EMERGING BLOSSOMS, which participates in this charity match, is organized around the members of NDS (National Development Squad), which convenes players with high potential who may be selected as representatives of Japan. It is a special team to be done. It is named EMERGING BLOSSOMS because the players who are paying attention to the rise of the Japanese national coaches gather together, and it will be used as the team name from this game
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On the other hand, TONGA SAMURAI XV (Tonga Samurai Fifteen) is headed by Nofomuli Taumoe Forau, a former rugby representative from Tonga, and directed by Ratu William Shinan Toshi. Japan Rugby, to which many of the world’s top players belong, teams are formed by selecting players from Tonga or having roots in Tonga from his league one. Legends from Tonga will be assigned to the staff as well, and it will be a special team that embodies the bond that Tonga and Japan have built through rugby. The team members will be announced in early June, and a training camp will be held from June 6th for this match in Kochi prefecture, where Tonga national team pre-camped at the Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan Tournament. This training camp will be held in cooperation with Kochi Prefecture and the Kochi Prefecture Rugby Football Association.
The bond between Japanese rugby and Tonga rugby is deep, and our association has been conducting fund-raising activities for this disaster relief since January 28, and on March 31 we received from rugby families nationwide. We donated 10,015,927 yen from the fundraising we received at the association to the Japanese Red Cross Society.
This charity match will be held by spectators under the control of the new coronavirus infection, and ticket information will be announced on the official website of the association as soon as it is decided.
We will inform you of the donation destination of the proceeds of this game as soon as it is decided.
(* The second senior national team in Japan in the World Rugby competition regulations is “Junior Japan”, which is different from this team.)
◎ Match outline
・ Match name: Japan Rugby Charity Match 2022 EMERGING BLOSSOMS vs TONGA SAMURAI XV
・ Match schedule: Saturday, June 11, 2022 13:00 Kick-off
・ Venue: Chichibu Palace Rugby Stadium (Tokyo)
・ Organizer: Japan Rugby Football Union
・ Supervising: Kanto Rugby Football Association
・ Cooperation: Japan Rugby League One
・ TV broadcast: 12: 45-J SPORTS 1 (live broadcast) ・ Distribution: 12: 45-J SPORTS on-demand (LIVE distribution)
◎ Comment by Shigetaka Mori, Chairman of Japan Rugby Football Union
“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people concerned for their warm cooperation and support in holding this charity match. We would like to thank Mr. Nofomuli and Mr. Ratu, who are from Tonga and former representatives of Japan, for their support. With this opportunity, we were able to realize such a wonderful match. Through this charity match, we hope that this charity match will be an opportunity to further strengthen the bond between Japan and the Kingdom of Tonga through rugby and to foster mutual friendship. I’m glad. Also, the players of EMERGING BLOSSOMS who will participate in this match are players with high potential to be elected to the Japanese national team, and the Japanese national team coaches are also paying attention to the rise. We are looking forward to having a fierce battle with the powerful Tonga rugby in the hope that it will blossom as a representative of Japan in the future. I hope we can send your support to the Kingdom of Tonga. “
◎ Ratu William Shinan Toshi TONGA SAMURAI XV Director Comment
“Thank you very much for the many donations from the Japanese people for the damage caused by the eruption and tsunami of a large-scale submarine volcano that occurred off the coast of the Tonga Islands before dawn on January 15. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you. Furthermore, I am deeply moved to hold a charity match sponsored by the Japan Rugby Football Association. Thank you very much. The exchange between Japan and the Kingdom of Tonga in rugby was the first international student at Daito Bunka University in 1980. It started with Mr. Nofommuri and Mr. Hopoi
who came to Japan. Both of them were studying at a volcanic eruption at national expense, but they also joined the rugby club. After graduating, I joined Sanyo Denki and was selected as a representative of Japan, and before I knew it, I changed from abacus to rugby. The next international student was Namorewho died with me two years ago in 1985. Since then, as you all know, there are now nearly 200 high school, university, and working adults from Tonga living in Japan, many of whom are also active in the Japanese national team. It was the first time for the Kingdom of Tonga to hold a match, and our dream became a reality. This match will be a kick-off for the reconstruction of the Kingdom of Tonga, and the exchange between Japan and the Kingdom of Tonga will become even deeper. I hope you enjoy this charity match! “
(* Mr. Hopoi Taione, Mr. Watesoni Namore)
TONGA SAMURAI XV (About Tonga Samurai Fifteen)
