Cooper and Genia agree deals at the same second tier Japanese club
Veteran Wallabies playmaking duo Will Genia and Quade Cooper will join Japan’s Kintetsu Liners following this year’s Rugby World Cup.
The Melbourne Rebels duo, who also played Super Rugby together in Queensland for the Reds, are the latest top players to head to Japan to play club rugby after the country hosts this year's World Cup.
The Liners, who play in Japan’s second-tier Top Challenge League, said scrum-half Genia will link up with the club after the World Cup, but fly-half Cooper, who was not named in the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship squad, could move to Japan as soon as September.
Japan’s domestic league season will begin in January 2020, which is later than usual due to the World Cup, which starts on September 20.
“My aim is to do my best and, through my play, I would like to make this the number one team in Japan,” Genia said in a statement on the club’s website.
The Liners, who are based near Osaka, have never won Japan’s Top League competition since it started in 2004 but did win the amateur All-Japan Championship three times between 1966-1974.
“I will work hard to take the team back to Top League,” added Cooper, whose exclusion from the Australian squad caused a rumpus among Wallabies fans. “When we reach the Top League, then I want to contribute more again at that stage. I want to challenge rugby in Japan, and I can still contribute on the pitch.”
Fellow Wallaby David Pocock will also return to Japan in 2020 and it was not just Australian players who have been enticed to Japanese rugby next season.
All Blacks Kieran Read, Brodie Retallick and Ryan Crotty will also be heading to Japan, along with South African loose forward Duane Vermeulen.
- AAP
WATCH: Part one of the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what the travelling fans can experience at the 2019 World Cup in Japan
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I agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
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