; born 11 August 1979) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. He plays primarily at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

Club career

Unusually, he made his Super Rugby debut for the Auckland Blues, prior to making his first start in provincial rugby, making the step from junior rugby with Pakuranga and the Auckland Colts, due to the then Blues first choice fly-half

Carlos Spencer Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR). During his playing ...

being injured. Later in 2002 Arlidge would go on to make his debut for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in New Zealand's

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

. In 2001 having started the NPC season with Auckland, Arlidge would spend the majority of the season on loan with another side in the Blues franchise. Northland. After another season back with Auckland and the Blues, Arlidge opted to sign for South Island side the

Highlanders (rugby union) The Highlanders (formerly the Otago Highlanders) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competit ...

for the

2003 Super 12 season The 2003 Super 12 season was the eighth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2003, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular sea ...

, as well as playing his NPC rugby with Otago. His brother Gareth has also represented Auckland at provincial level. After a single season in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, Arlidge began a four-year stint in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

with

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

based club

NTT DoCoMo Kansai NTT may refer to: * National Native Title Tribunal (NTT), Australian government instrumentality * NATO countries, as per NATO country code * New Technology Telescope, a 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile * New Technology Train, a series ...

. Having been listed by the

Japan Rugby Football Union The Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU; ja, 日本ラグビーフットボール協会, ''Nihon Ragubi- Futtobo-ru Kyo-kai'') is the governing body for rugby union in Japan. It was formed 30 November 1926, and organises matches for the Japan nation ...

as being unaffiliated to a club, on 5 May 2008 the

South Wales Argus The ''South Wales Argus'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Newport, South Wales. ''The Argus'' is distributed in Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, and Torfaen. History The paper was founded as the ''South Wales Arg ...

quoted new

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

signing Tom Willis as "looking forward to joining forces with his compatriots and former Highlanders team-mates, including James Arlidge, in Dragons colours next season.". In June 2010

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

announced that Arlidge had joined them on a one-year contract.

International

Prior to leaving New Zealand, Arlidge made his New Zealand Maori debut, against a Canada All Stars side, on their 2003

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

tour. Having qualified for

on residency grounds, Arlidge was named by new "Cherry Blossoms" coach and fellow New Zealander John Kirwan's first squad. His test debut came in an emphatic 82–0 win over

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, scoring two tries and converting all of his ten

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

s. Having looked a certainty for a berth in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

squad, a fractured leg obtained against a Classic All Blacks side forced Arlidge onto the sidelines, until the 2008 HSBC Asian Five Nations. In the

2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2008 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between six national sides on the Pacific Rim: Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand Māori (just for this year). The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This y ...

Arlidge was the top points scorer with 56 for Japan, six points ahead of

Callum Bruce Callum Bruce (born 9 June 1983 in Hastings, New Zealand) is a New Zealand rugby union player. Super 14 Bruce formerly played for the Super Rugby team Highlanders. He played for the Super Rugby team Chiefs. Although his normal position is se ...

of the New Zealand Maori. Arlidge was included in Japan's

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

squad. He played in 3 of Japan's 4 matches during the tournament, scoring 34 points, consisting of 2 tries, 3 conversions and 6 penalties.

References

External links

Newport Gwent Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arlidge, James 1979 births Living people Māori All Blacks players New Zealand rugby union players Dragons RFC players Blues (Super Rugby) players Highlanders (rugby union) players Nottingham R.F.C. players NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka players Auckland rugby union players Otago rugby union players Northland rugby union players Japan international rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Japanese expatriate sportspeople in England Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Wales Japanese people of New Zealand descent Rugby union players from Hamilton, New Zealand New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England People educated at Dilworth School University of Auckland alumni Rugby union fly-halves