Mie Honda Heat is a Japanese rugby union team based in
Suzuka City,
Mie Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...
,
Japan. The owner of the club is
Honda Motor. (Suzuka is known for the
Suzuka Circuit
The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000.
Introduction
Soic ...
and the presence of car companies.)
They play in the
Japan Rugby League One, the top tier of the Japan's rugby union hierarchy.
In 2011–12, Honda Heat were relegated to regional events for 2012–13. Winning 2 and drawing 1 of their 13 games in the regular season.
The team rebranded as Mie Honda Heat ahead of the rebranding of the Top League as the
Japan Rugby League One in 2022.
History
Honda Motor Co. established its rugby club in 1960 at the Suzuka Factory. The team gained promotion to the Kansai A-League for the 1978 season, and then finished sixth in the seven-team competition in for that year. Honda remained a fixture in the Kansai A-League, being demoted only once (for the 1985 season) before it was renamed the Top West A-League in 2003-04 with the introduction of Japan's
Top League
Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...
.
Honda did not qualify for inclusion in the Top League for inaugural season—that had to wait for another six years—but the team continued to play in the Top West A-League. After winning the league in 2008-09 under New Zealander
John Sherratt
John Hubert Sherratt (9 March 1923 – 1975) was an English amateur footballer who played at centre-forward for Port Vale in 1949.
Career
Sherratt joined Port Vale in January 1949, and made his debut in a 3–1 defeat by Swansea Town at Vetch ...
, Honda Heat was promoted. The team played one Top League season in
2009–10 before being demoted and another in
2011–12 before being demoted again to Top West A, where they remained for three seasons.
Honda won the Top West A-League in 2014–15, and was promoted once again for the
2015–16 season of Top League, finishing at 11th place.
[Rugbyarchive.net](_blank)
Top League season 2015–16 So the team stayed for
another term, this time ending the tournament at place 16th of 16 and being relegated to the newly introduced second-tier
Top Challenge League
The Top Challenge League was a professional rugby union competition in Japan. It was the second-highest level of rugby competition in the country and is a companies league; all the teams are owned by major companies and the players are generally ...
.
[Rugbyarchive.net](_blank)
Top League season 2016–17
The season 2017–18 was played as a round-robin tournament, the Heats managing to win and become promoted automatically for the
2018–19 Top League season, back to first tier status.
[Rugbyarchive.net](_blank)
Top Challenge League season 2017–18
Current squad
The current Mie Honda Heat squad for the 2023 season is:
Coaches
*
John Sherratt
John Hubert Sherratt (9 March 1923 – 1975) was an English amateur footballer who played at centre-forward for Port Vale in 1949.
Career
Sherratt joined Port Vale in January 1949, and made his debut in a 3–1 defeat by Swansea Town at Vetch ...
: April 2008 – March 2010
*
Danny Lee: May 2017 - May 2021
*
Taihei Ueda: June 2021 – present
See also
*
Top League Challenge Series
References
External links
Honda Heat Rugby- official site
Honda Heat Stats- Rugbyarchive.net
{{Mie Honda Heat squad
Rugby clubs established in 1960
Sports teams in Mie Prefecture
Heat
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
1960 establishments in Japan
Japan Rugby League One teams