Honda Heat
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.)
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| Full name | Honda Heat Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Japan Rugby Football Union | ||
| Founded | 1960 | ||
| Location | Suzuka, Mie, Japan | ||
| Ground(s) | Honda Active Land and Suzuka Sports Garden | ||
| Chairman | Takanobu Ito | ||
| Coach(es) | Danny Lee | ||
| League(s) | Top League | ||
| 2018–19 | 9th | ||
| |||
They play in the Top League, the top tier of the 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.
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 in 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.[1] 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.[2]
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.[3]
Current squad
The current Honda Heat squad for the 2021 season is:[4]
| Honda Heat squad | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Props
Hookers
Locks
|
Loose Forwards
Scrum-halves
Fly-halves
|
Centres
Wingers
Fullbacks
|
| (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped |
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Coaches
John Sherratt: April 2008 – March 2010- Danny Lee: May 2017-present
See also
References
- Rugbyarchive.net, Top League season 2015–16
- Rugbyarchive.net, Top League season 2016–17
- Rugbyarchive.net, Top Challenge League season 2017–18
- "Player Profiles" 選手紹介. Honda Heat. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
External links
- Honda Heat Rugby - official site
- Honda Heat Stats - Rugbyarchive.net
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