Japan’s Rugby Captain Himeno, who Missed the World Cup Top 8 is Now Overcoming Tremendous Stress

The Japanese national team (ranked 12th in the world), aiming for their first ever top four finish at the Rugby World Cup in France, lost their first-round match against Argentina (ranked 9th in the world) in Nantes, losing 27-39.

The Argentinean team has a record of 1-5 against Japan, and although they have reached the last four in the World Cup twice, and defeated the past World Cup winners New Zealand and Australia last year, they have never been able to win a match against the Argentinean team, despite coming within a point of tying the game. The team was bounced back by the thick wall of the South American heroes.

Captain Kazuki Himeno (29), who has been leading the team with passion and love and has publicly declared his desire to win the World Cup, expressed his frustration after the match, saying,

“I am disappointed that we did not get the result we wanted, but I want to thank my teammates for putting in their best effort. It is thanks to my fans that I have been able to work this hard. Although we were not able to put cherry blossoms on the top of Mount Everest, we will continue to pursue our legacy, our culture, and our dream and goal of winning the World Cup. I believe that our dream and goal of winning the World Cup will be passed on to the next generation.”

At the post-match press conference, head coach (HC) Jamie Joseph, sitting next to HIMENO, stated, “The quality of the team (Japan) is very high.”

“Japan’s national team is a quality team, but we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to develop quality players.”

The COVID-19 crisis restricted Argentina’s ability to play test matches against higher-ranked nations, and while Argentina was able to resume play against New Zealand in November 2020, Japan was delayed until June 2021, when they played the British & Irish Lions. In addition to the international matches in June and November, Argentina also participated in “The Rugby Championship,” a four-nation Southern Hemisphere tournament held in July and August every year, in which they play two matches each against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa in principle.

It was a foregone conclusion that Himeno, who shot to stardom at the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 with his “jackal” (an instant technique to take the ball away from a downed player in a tackle), would be named captain for this year’s tournament. When selecting a new captain, HC Joseph said at the end of July, just before the selection of the team members, that he wanted him to lead the team in games, and he called up HIMENO and SH Ryudai, who was named vice captain, saying that he had a lot of confidence in them.

“I want to lead the team with my passion, love, and my own style of leadership,” said HIMENO, “because my leadership is necessary for the national team and Jamie said he expects that from me.”

However, HIMENO has always been a free-spirited player rather than a captain. Of the 33 members of the current Japan team, seven are from Teikyo University, five of whom have been captains and one vice-captain, and Himeno was the only one who was not a leader during his college years. In his third year of high school, he skipped a grade and was selected as a candidate for the U20 national team, but due to an injury sustained in his first year of college at a training camp run by Eddie Jones, who was leading the national team at the time, his college career was not a complete one.

The turning point came when he joined the Toyota Verblitz (Toyota), a team in his hometown of Aichi, Japan. Toyota was led by then coach Jake White, who led South Africa to victory at the 2007 World Cup, and the world-famous general appointed Himeno as captain, an unprecedented move for a rookie.

He is a player who knows how to win championships,” White said. He can represent Japan and will definitely play in the World Cup. One of my jobs is to give him a sense of responsibility and captaincy, and to develop him into an international player,” said White.

Before joining Toyota, HIMENO himself set out to become a member of the Japan national team, which has been his dream since he was a child, and win the Top League Rookie of the Year award. He met the expectations of coach White and HC Joseph, who was in his second year at Toyota, and fulfilled both of these goals. He also studied with the Sunwolves Super Rugby team, which led to a leap forward to the World Cup in 2007.

In the midst of the frenzy of 2019, Himeno decided to return to Japan in 2021 saying , “I want to make rugby, which is my dream, an indispensable part of Japan and in terms of my personal growth, I felt it necessary to leave the comfort of Japan and play with a hunger.” Instead of playing for Toyota, he chose to challenge the Highlanders of New Zealand (NZ), who HC Joseph once led to their first Super Rugby championship. Himeno, who has been the only overseas player in the FWD team for the past four years, recalls, “I was the only one to make it to the World Cup in ’19.

“I was not able to play the way I wanted to (in the quarterfinals of the ’19 World Cup against South Africa),” he said. I became very ambitious to become stronger and stronger. I decided to go (to NZ) because I thought it would be a great advantage to play Super Rugby, a high level league, and get tougher every week.