Yamasawa (center) and Nakajima (far right; photo by Kenji Saito) follow up with Yamasawa running with the ball against the prestigious Fushimi Kogyo in the third round of the Hanazono tournament on January 1, 2013. I even remember the date of Yamasawa’s reply to my letter On December 4, 2010, Yamasawa, who was so enthusiastic about what coach Yokota wrote to him, said, “I have read your letter. I will join Fukaya and play rugby!” and he still remembers it to this day. Thus, Yamasawa began to devote himself to rugby in earnest at Fukaya High School. Yamasawa had been active since his first year in high school, scoring a try at Hanazono, and his talent was highly regarded by then national team coach Eddie Jones, who called him up to the Japan national team training camp in his junior year. He also participated in a match against Tonga as a member of the national team reserve team. In 2017, he earned his first cap for Japan’s national team.   Thinking back to Yamasawa’s playing days as a high school and college student, coach Yokota said, “At the time, I thought he would be number 10 for the 2019 tournament, but he had a natural bone in his body. If he wanted to pass, he would pass. If he wanted to kick, he would kick. If he wanted to run, he would run. He didn’t know what he was doing, and he was doing it with just his talent, so there wasn’t much reproducibility. Even so, he was troubled by the recognition he received from those around me. So, after joining the Wild Knights, many things came together, and now he’s in a period of fulfillment. He was thought to be precocious, but I guess he is not precocious, but a late bloomer. I want him to show his desire to be a member of the Japan national team, but at the same time, I want him to show his strengths and do his best as Takuya.” When asked for encouragement for Hashimoto and Nakajima, coach Yokota said, “Hashimoto is a physically strong and dexterous player who can do anything. The fact that he was selected for the national team this time is proof that he has built up his career at Toshiba and has been recognized. I hope he will make the most of his abilities, including set plays. Nakajima is fast, physically strong, and can throw a pass from any position. In high school, he played in a half-squad with Yamasawa, and I think that was a big part of his success. If he plays in a normal way, I think he has a high level of ability, so I want him to play without fear,”  What is the secret behind how Director Yokota was able to produce three members of the Japanese national team from an ordinary prefectural high school? “Because we were together every day, the basic premise was that we were doing a good job of guiding the students in areas other than rugby play, such as greetings and organization. We also made sure that they studied hard during exam periods so that their studies would not be neglected. Hashimoto and Yamasawa were always in the top five in their class.” Coach Yokota also prefaced his comments by saying, “Of course, we wanted to win at the national championships.” He added, “Now that I think about it, when you have too many excellent players like at a private, nationally strong high school, it becomes your mission to win the national championships. There is a lot of pressure, and maybe they understand a little bit more about how to approach their players.”  “Some private national powerhouses have teams with more than 100 players, but Fukaya High School had fewer than 60 at its most” he said. Even when they competed in Hanazono, there were some players who said, “Two or three of them are a bit tough to compete in the national tournament. So, coach Yokota decided to develop players such as Hashimoto, Yamasawa, and Nakajima, who he thought were interesting.” He would say, “We want to win, so don’t do these things!” or “Play this way!” He didn’t try to fit them into a mold, such as “Don’t do this!” Because it was a public school, there were not many good players. So he wanted to bring out the best in each player. He was coaching with this in mind. Hopefully, the team can win in that situation. The fact that they were not too strong schools may have been an advantage, as they were able to play without pressure. Without a doubt, their high school days were not their peak.   Yokota is currently coaching the rugby team at Kumagaya High School, and in addition to coaching club activities, the high school students will have final exams in July. The Japanese national rugby team has three consecutive matches coming up: against Uruguay on June 25 (Sat.) at Kitakyushu, against France on July 2 (Sat.) at Toyota, and against France on July 9 (National Stadium). “If there are three Fukaya High School graduates in Japan’s national team, one of them will be in the 2023 World Cup squad for France.” Coach Yokota is now looking forward to seeing his students perform on the world’s biggest stage.