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“Japan will always hold a pretty special part close to my heart, having played there and also seeing the success of the Japanese national sides,” said two-time Rugby World Cup-winning former All Black, and arguably, the greatest men’s 15s player to have played the game, Dan Carter.
I sat down with one of the most decorated rugby players in the professional era (a three-time World Rugby Player of The Year winner) in Singapore where he was participating as an HSBC Ambassador at the Singapore Sevens 2025, a week full of youth and rugby clinics and corporate events for Carter, but also a fulfilling one for someone who has achieved so much in the sport as he is able to give back to the fans new and old since he retired in 2021.
I knew the former Crusaders, Perpignan, Racing 92, and Auckland Blues player had also spent three seasons in Japan playing with Kobelco Steelers and he continues to have consultative and ambassadorial roles in the country - he is adamant about the potential of rugby in Japan.
He told me about his experiences of playing in Japan and how he sees the game growing there.
“I was playing in Japan in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and the growth that I saw in rugby in that particular time was something I've never seen before in my life. We all recognised the incredible Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the growth of the game then, which all stemmed from RWC 2015 when Japan beat South Africa. Sorry, to bring that up,” he said with a cheeky grin.
“Four years later they were competing at a Rugby World Cup at home, and the whole country just went crazy. I played in the Top League (which is the Japan Rugby League One now), the year after the World Cup, and by then, the Japanese players in our Kobelco Steelers side were superstars. They couldn't walk on the street without getting recognised and were being asked for photos all of the time.”
From what we had seen of Carter in Singapore, he was still held in high regard in the fan spotlight and was incredibly patient in signing autographs and taking photos wherever he went.
“We were getting 50,000 people to club games with my club in Japan, and rugby was just on this absolute high. And it still breaks my heart to this day that the timing of the pandemic and the setback that had on Japanese rugby…. yeah I’m getting goosebumps just talking about that time and thinking about what could have been.”
Carter won the Japanese Top League championship in 2018, to add to his numerous club titles and Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, and his two French Top 14 titles with Perpignan and Racing 92. He speaks passionately about his ties to Japan and his hopes the game can lift off again to new heights.
“When you take rugby away from the fans for 18 months or so as the pandemic did, they were trying to work out how to rebuild that fan base again and that fan excitement from 2019.
Now, one of my partnership roles is going to Japan two or three times a year and bridging the gap between New Zealand rugby and Japanese rugby. So when I head over and do these coaching clinics for Japanese children, they are honestly some of the best students I've ever taught in my life. Their discipline, their ability to ask questions, to learn, to grow, it really does emphasise the need to start at a grassroots level.
I've talked about the success of the national side, but that can't be sustainable unless you're growing at a grassroots level. So there just needs to be more continued work at a community level to help continue that success,” explained Carter.
“But it does break my heart for what happened. I think with time, because they're just such a proud, proud nation, and they're getting the resources, and they have some of the top players and coaches over there - and I mean the world’s best coaches are coaching in Japan. And with key players at each Japan Rugby League One team as well, as well as international players with a wealth of experience, they are going to share that with the Japanese players at their clubs - so I think the foundations are there to hopefully continue to build.”
We agree with everything he said. There are a number of deals being signed between the Japan Rugby Football Union, its clubs in the JRLO, and domestic Women’s teams with international partners - and the players are flocking to Japan.
We also asked Dan Carter about the women’s game, as the Japanese Sakura 7s have done very well on the HSBC SVNS Series 2025 and the Sakura 15s have a busy test schedule in 2025 heading into the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England later this year. It might have that same legacy impact of those players being hounded for photographs on the streets of Japan if they have a good run at the Rugby World Cup 2025.
Carter considered this and explained, “The women's game, both sevens and fifteens, is a part of the game that really excites me the most as it's still really in the early days of professionalism and it reminds me of the mid-90s and there is just this world of opportunities for women's game.
I know that in a country like Japan if they were successful in any way, the fans would be getting behind them as they love successful teams. They love the upsets. They love having heroes to look up to. And in Japan, to have them do well on the HSBC World Seven Series is a great platform avenue for them, and hopefully, they can invest in getting the right resources and coaching efforts to give these women the opportunities.”