NEC Green Rockets is a
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese
rugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team in the
Top LeagueThe Top League is a professional rugby union league created by the Japan Rugby Football Union to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport in the country and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season was 2003-04 and featured 12 teams...
. The team's captain is
Ryota Asano. The previous captain was
Takuro MiuchiTakuro Miuchi is a Japanese rugby union player, who plays number eight. He was captain of the Japan national rugby union team until relieved of that responsibility by Japan national team coach Jean-Pierre Elissalde in a surprise move during February 2006...
, who is currently the captain of the
Japan national rugby union teamThe Japan national rugby union team represent Japan in international rugby union competitions. Japan is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia but has both enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years...
. Before the semi-professional
Top LeagueThe Top League is a professional rugby union league created by the Japan Rugby Football Union to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport in the country and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season was 2003-04 and featured 12 teams...
was created, the team was just known as
"NEC". The amateur club was founded in 1985 in the
Kantō regionThe is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
.
NEC Green Rockets won the
All-Japan ChampionshipThe All-Japan Rugby Football Championship is played at the end of the season and now includes Top League teams, the top two universities and the champion club team as decided in the respective championships...
final for the second time on February 27, 2005, beating
Toyota VerblitzToyota Verblitz is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. Verblitz is a conflation of verde and blitz . The team is owned by Toyota Jidosha and is separate from, and not to be confused with, the Toyota Industries Shuttles rugby team, owned by Toyota Industries...
17-13. They drew 6-6 with
Toshiba Brave LupusToshiba Brave Lupus is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup in 2005 under their innovative and inventive coach Masahiro...
in the 43rd Japan Championship final on February 26, 2006 after an effective defensive effort and the sin-binning of Glen Marsh in the last ten minutes of the game.
Honours
- All-Japan Championship
The All-Japan Rugby Football Championship is played at the end of the season and now includes Top League teams, the top two universities and the champion club team as decided in the respective championships...
- Champions: 2005, 2006 (with Toshiba Brave Lupus
Toshiba Brave Lupus is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup in 2005 under their innovative and inventive coach Masahiro...
)
2011-12 Squad
Former players
- John Kirwan
John James Patrick Kirwan, ONZM, MBE is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, and former All Black, turned coach. With 35 tries in 63 tests for the All Blacks, Kirwan appears on the list of the highest try scorers in Rugby Union history....
- before the Top LeagueThe Top League is a professional rugby union league created by the Japan Rugby Football Union to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport in the country and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season was 2003-04 and featured 12 teams...
started, head coach of Japan national rugby union teamThe Japan national rugby union team represent Japan in international rugby union competitions. Japan is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia but has both enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years...
- Kiyonori Okano
- Takayuki Higo - coach
- George Konia
- Glen Marsh
External links