Mie Honda Heat

Mie Honda Heat is a Japanese rugby union team based in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The owner of the club is Honda Motor. (Suzuka is known for the Suzuka Circuit and the presence of car companies. Conveniently, the team uses Suzuka to jog on as part of their training programme.)

Mie Honda Heat
三重ホンダヒート
Full nameMie Honda Heat
UnionJapan Rugby Football Union
Nickname(s)Heat
Founded1960
LocationSuzuka, Mie, Japan
Ground(s)Honda Active Land and Suzuka Sports Garden
ChairmanTakanobu Ito
Coach(es)Kieran Crowley
League(s)Japan Rugby League One, Division Two
20222nd
Lost promotion/relegation match
1st kit
2nd kit

They play in the Japan Rugby League One, the top tier of Japan's rugby union hierarchy.

In 2011–12, Honda Heat were relegated to regional events for 2012–13. Winning 2 and drawing 1 of their 13 games in the regular season.

The team rebranded as Mie Honda Heat ahead of the rebranding of the Top League as the Japan Rugby League One in 2022.[1]

History

Honda Motor Co. established its rugby club in 1960 at the Suzuka Factory. The team gained promotion to the Kansai A-League for the 1978 season, and then finished sixth in the seven-team competition for that year. Honda remained a fixture in the Kansai A-League, being demoted only once (for the 1985 season) before it was renamed the Top West A-League in 2003-04 with the introduction of Japan's Top League.

Honda did not qualify for inclusion in the Top League for inaugural season—that had to wait for another six years—but the team continued to play in the Top West A-League. After winning the league in 2008-09 under New Zealander John Sherratt, Honda Heat was promoted. The team played one Top League season in 2009–10 before being demoted and another in 2011–12 before being demoted again to Top West A, where they remained for three seasons.

Honda won the Top West A-League in 2014–15, and was promoted once again for the 2015–16 season of Top League, finishing at 11th place.[2] So the team stayed for another term, this time ending the tournament at place 16th of 16 and being relegated to the newly introduced second-tier Top Challenge League.[3]

The season 2017–18 was played as a round-robin tournament, the Heats managing to win and become promoted automatically for the 2018–19 Top League season, back to first tier status.[4]

Current squad

The current Mie Honda Heat squad for the 2023-24 season is:[5]

Mie Honda Heat squad

Props

  • Japan Hayato Akahira
  • Japan Tatsuhiko Tsurukawa
  • Japan Takumi Fuji
  • Japan Masahiro Hibino
  • Japan Kanato Hirano
  • South Africa Matthys Basson
  • Japan Katsuyuki Hoshino
  • Japan Taiki Yoshioka
  • Japan Kenta Hirai REP


Hookers

  • Japan Tateo Kanai
  • Japan Kouki Hida
  • Japan Shun Hizume
  • South Korea Lee Seung-hyok*
  • Japan Hiroaki Shirahama

Locks

  • Japan Yoji Akiyama
  • Japan Akihito Doi
  • New Zealand Tetuhi Roberts*
  • Fiji Viliami Vuli
  • New Zealand Connor Wihongi*
  • South Africa Franco Mostert
  • Japan Yu Kasakake REP

Flankers

  • Japan Atsurou Tsuji
  • Japan Masaki Kondo
  • New Zealand Wimana Kapa
  • South Africa Justin Downey
  • Japan Kosuke Hattori
  • Japan Ryota Kobayashi
  • Argentina Pablo Matera
  • Japan Kei Touma
  • New Zealand Heiden Bedwell-Curtis REP

No8s

  • Japan Ryo Furuta (c)
  • Tonga Viliami Kaipouli*
  • Fiji Sosiceni Tokoqio*

Scrum-halves

  • Japan Hisayoshi Ito
  • Japan Shogo Nezuka
  • Japan Takuya Obata
  • Japan Kenta Yamaji
  • Japan Azuma Doei
  • Japan Taichi Takenaka
  • Japan Takuro Hojo REP
  • Japan Koki Miyasaka REP

Fly-halves

  • South Korea Park Song-gi*
  • Japan Yuto Yohena
  • South Korea Oh Gwang-tee*
  • New Zealand Mitch Hunt

Centres

  • Japan Issei Shige
  • Japan Kaito Kawai
  • South Africa Dawid Kellerman
  • Australia Clynton Knox*
  • Australia Fraser Quirk*
  • Japan Soki Watanabe
  • Japan Kyogo Okano REP
  • Tonga Manase Havili REP DEP

Wingers

  • Japan Yuzo Yamamoto
  • New Zealand Tevita Li
  • Japan Naoki Motomura
  • Japan Kotaro Kono
  • Japan Kanta Watanabe

Fullbacks

  • Japan Kengo Gunji
  • Japan Yoshikazu Fujita
  • Japan Haruhiko Uemura
  • Australia Tom Banks
  • Japan Yuta Matsuura

Utility Backs

(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped

Coaches
  • New Zealand John Sherratt: April 2008 – March 2010[6]
  • New Zealand Danny Lee: May 2017 - May 2021[7]
  • Japan Taihei Ueda: June 2023 – present[8]
  • New Zealand Kieran Crowley: 2024 - onwards

See also

References
  1. "La nouvelle ligue japonaise s'appelle la Japan Rugby League One". Asie Rugby (in French). 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. Rugbyarchive.net, Top League season 2015–16
  3. Rugbyarchive.net, Top League season 2016–17
  4. Rugbyarchive.net, Top Challenge League season 2017–18
  5. "Player Profiles" 選手紹介. Honda Heat. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  6. "John Sherratt". Linkedin.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  7. "Japan prop Koo Ji Won and head coach Danny Lee among those leaving Honda Heat". Twitter.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  8. "Players & Staff ｜ Honda HEAT Rugby Football Club". Honda-heat.jp. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
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