Japan hooker Shota Horie signs with Melbourne Rebels

[nickdnz]

AAP © Enlarge photo


Shota Horie will be aiming to become the first Japanese player to compete in Super Rugby's 17-year history after the Melbourne Rebels recruited the hooker for the 2013 season.
Horie, who has won 19 Test caps for Japan, was signed from Sonny Bill Williams' club Panasonic Wild Knights based near Tokyo and his addition completes the Rebels' 30-man roster.
The 26-year-old will battle incumbent hooker Ged Robinson and Ryan Tyrrell for game time and caught the eye of the Rebels after turning out for Otago in this year's ITM Cup in New Zealand.
Horie will join the Rebels in early December and will be available for international selection with the Cherry Blossoms throughout the Super Rugby season.
"I am honoured to become a part of the Melbourne Rebels," said the 105kg Horie.
"I would like to contribute to the team's success as much as I can and also to prove the potential of Japanese players in Super Rugby."
The Rebels signed former Western Force rake Tyrrell and Horie after the losses of Adam Freier (retirement), Luke Holmes (NSW Waratahs) and Heath Tessmann (released) at the end of last season.
Rebels coach Damien Hill, who spent three years coaching in Japan with Suntory, is looking forward to welcoming Horie to the Victorian capital.
"The work ethic of all Japanese players is of the highest order," said Hill.
"To have him as part of this club will have an immediate impact."
"Culture and values are a strong part of Japan, as they are here at the Rebels, and we are thrilled to have Shota on board."
Horie joins Otago Highlanders halfback Fumiaka Tanaka as one of two Japanese signings in Super Rugby for 2013.
The latest signing completes a busy off-season recruitment phase by the Rebels as they prepare for their third Super Rugby season after finishing a lowly 13th in 2012.
While Wallabies backrower Scott Higginbotham is their most high-profile gain from the Queensland Reds, the Rebels have also attracted Scott Fuglistaller (Otago Highlanders), Jason Woodward (Wellington Lions), Rory Sidey (Western Force), Kimami Sitauti (ACT Brumbies), Chris Thomson (Narbonne) and Alex Rokobaro (Stade Francais).

http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/news/article/-/15440098/rebels-recruit-japanese-hooker-horie/

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Tyrell signed for Rebels ... Dear lord

 

[Draggs]

Tyrell signed for Rebels ... Dear lord

Yeah, heard rumours of it a while back, didn't know it was confirmed.
What a player!

 

[ZeFrenchy]

...http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8190454,00.html

 

[BZHopenside]

Fumiaki Tanaka has already joined the Highlanders for next season, so he won't necessarily be the first. Nice to see more Japanese guys moving into Super Rugby though.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

I love Shota Horie. Just watch him in Super Rugby next year. It's like he's convinced he's Brian O'Driscoll. Running lines, throwing backhand offloads, sidestepping, filling in as first receiver... It's brilliant. One of my favourite players to watch.

 

[SelimNiai]

So he does more than BOD


*line is cast*

 

[Draggs]

I love Shota Horie. Just watch him in Super Rugby next year. It's like he's convinced he's Brian O'Driscoll. Running lines, throwing backhand offloads, sidestepping, filling in as first receiver... It's brilliant. One of my favourite players to watch.

Wait, Brian O'Driscoll does all of this?

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

They both went there. They. Both. Went. There.

 

[SelimNiai]

Double Zinger

 

[profitius]

It'll be good to see a Japanese player playing in Super rugby. At 105kg hes not that small either.

 

[Darwin]

Good signing for the Rebels - he should be battling Ged Robinson for a starting spot. Personally I'm not convinced he is 105kg (despite what his profile on the Otago rugby site says). He is definitely one of the smaller hookers going around. Indeed his lack of size was one of the major reasons he didn't get many starts for during the ITM Cup season (with the noticeably bigger Anderson-Heather - listed at 104kgs - preferred due his greater bulk in the scrum.....).

 

[psychic duck]

Good signing for the Rebels - he should be battling Ged Robinson for a starting spot. Personally I'm not convinced he is 105kg (despite what his profile on the Otago rugby site says). He is definitely one of the smaller hookers going around. Indeed his lack of size was one of the major reasons he didn't get many starts for during the ITM Cup season (with the noticeably bigger Anderson-Heather - listed at 104kgs - preferred due his greater bulk in the scrum.....).

The old Japanese players are too small and light myth. That never fails to appear every time Japanese rugby is discussed. Even when the stats say otherwise, it still gets said over and over again.

For the record though Japan doesn't have a small pack at all, in fact the entire back five of the pack is over at least 6 foot 2 inches (although 3 of those are Kiwis or Tongans), whilst the front row isn't so tall but has a tighthead (http://www.rwc2011.irb.com/home/teams/team=49/player=29878/index.html) who is recorded as weighing in at 122kg ... hardly the small pack that the worldwide rugby media would have you believe.

Japan may be a small nation, but their forward pack certainly isn't. Especially as they can draft a couple of big Tongans or Kiwis in now and again, Japan actually had the heaviest back at the entire RWC last year in Alisi Tupuailai (116kg).

And Shota Horie is not "definitely one of the smaller hookers going around", I saw him play last weekend and I wouldn't have noticed he was particularly large or small, looked just normal for professional rugby hooker. And I was told by the way by a Japanese rugby journalist, Horie didn't get much game time or a Super Rugby contract because the Highlanders and New Zealand rugby in general aren't short on hookers. He may perhaps not be a good scrummager (Romania notably destroyed the Japan scrum with two debutants two weeks ago), but it isn't to do with size. You would have never have said that had a guy with the same physique been Irish for example.

The only position where Japan really has very small players, is scrum half where Tanaka and Hiwasa are both very small and lightweight. Other than those two who are particularly light and the fact apart from Tupuailai they don't tend to select big behemoth centres or wingers like Wales for example, Japan has a side which size are comparable to other international sides such as Canada, Georgia, Russia, Italy and Ireland.

Japan coach Eddie Jones himself said in a press conference this week "We are not physically inferior in terms of size" after the Georgia match.

 

[Darwin]

The old Japanese players are too small and light myth. That never fails to appear every time Japanese rugby is discussed. Even when the stats say otherwise, it still gets said over and over again.

As we all know that stats given for rugby players are always 100% correct My belief that Horie is not 105kg has nothing to do with him being Japanese. It has to do with actually watching him play rugby. Keven Mealamu is listed at 1.81m and I don't believe he is that tall. Brodie Retallick is listed at 115kg, but by all accounts he is 10kg heavier than that.....

For the record though Japan doesn't have a small pack at all, in fact the entire back five of the pack is over at least 6 foot 2 inches (although 3 of those are Kiwis or Tongans), whilst the front row isn't so tall but has a tighthead (http://www.rwc2011.irb.com/home/teams/team=49/player=29878/index.html) who is recorded as weighing in at 122kg ... hardly the small pack that the worldwide rugby media would have you believe.

Japan may be a small nation, but their forward pack certainly isn't. Especially as they can draft a couple of big Tongans or Kiwis in now and again, Japan actually had the heaviest back at the entire RWC last year in Alisi Tupuailai (116kg).

How is this even remotely relevant to whether or not Horie is 105kgs?

And Shota Horie is not "definitely one of the smaller hookers going around", I saw him play last weekend and I wouldn't have noticed he was particularly large or small, looked just normal for professional rugby hooker. And I was told by the way by a Japanese rugby journalist, Horie didn't get much game time or a Super Rugby contract because the Highlanders and New Zealand rugby in general aren't short on hookers.

Congratulations on watching Horie play. Believe it or not I've seen him play too. Quite a lot this year. I've watched him play a number of club games for Zingari-Richmond in Dunedin club rugby. I've watched him in 7-8 Otago matches (including several pre-season matches). Well over half of these games have been live, and I have met the guy in person on a couple of occasions. Based on this I don't think he is as tall as listed (he was almost exactly my height, which is 1.75m), and I would be surprised if he is over 100kg. Otago coach Tony Brown mentioned on a number of occasions that he preferred Anderson-Heather starting over Horie as he preferred Anderson-Haether's "bulk" at scrum to start the match. You just have to look at him standing beside Otago's other hooking options to see he is not a particularly big guy. There is no doubt that he is one of the smaller hookers that played in the ITM Cup - he is certainly not the smallest, but size is not one of his major assets.

 

[donmcdazzle]

^^ All good points, until you realise that he is actually pretty small for a hooker at Super rugby level. Not saying Japanese players in general are smaller than average, just this particular one. The same thing is said about Jason Rutledge so it isn't a crack at Japanese players.

 

[psychic duck]

So you have seen Horie first person, then to be fair you are probably in a better place to judge than me. I was just checking that you hadn't said that just based on his nationality, which you obviously haven't now you have said that information. But in general though, I find some immediately the point to the size of a Japanese player based on they are Japanese and nothing else, even though they are often the same size as many other nations players.

 

[Darwin]

So you have seen Horie first person, then to be fair you are probably in a better place to judge than me. I was just checking that you hadn't said that just based on his nationality, which you obviously haven't now you have said that information. But in general though, I find some immediately the point to the size of a Japanese player based on they are Japanese and nothing else, even though they are often the same size as many other nations players.

Fair enough. Sorry if my post came across as a bit blunt - I probably should have thrown a few smiley's in there! I don't think his size will be a big issue at Super Rugby level (he is certainly not as small as someone like Jason Rutledge), but I would be surprised if he is as actually as big as his new team-mate Ged Robinson (despite being listed at almost exactly the same size - 1.80m, 104kgs).

 

[Kiwiwomble]

So you have seen Horie first person, then to be fair you are probably in a better place to judge than me. I was just checking that you hadn't said that just based on his nationality, which you obviously haven't now you have said that information. But in general though, I find some immediately the point to the size of a Japanese player based on they are Japanese and nothing else, even though they are often the same size as many other nations players.

yeah, you might not want to jump straight for the insinuating someone is being racist move next time, especially when it's pretty obvious Darwin is an Otago fan so will have seen Horie play a lot this year. was a bit of an over reaction


hope he does well, i have huge respect for Tanaka and Horie for coming down here, not exactly the riviera, and getting super contracts the proper way, they had no gaurantee's they would make the otago team let alone anything more, awesome work</SPAN></SPAN>