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The Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament is an 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 ...
tournament for 15-a-side youth teams which is held every year during the
Golden Week holidays (29 April – 5/6 May) in
Fukuoka prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...
, Japan. Participation is by invitation only, and the overseas schools selected by their respective unions to represent their country are generally expected to be of a high standard and among the top five in each country. The event is hosted 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 nati ...
and supported by various local bodies including the Kyushu RFU, the Sanix Sports Foundation and Munakata City. The
Global Arena in
Munakata, Fukuoka
is a city in Japan, located in Fukuoka Prefecture, in the north Chikuzen region of the prefecture. The city was founded on April 1, 1981. As of April 30, 2022, the city has an estimated population of 97,098 and a population density of 810 perso ...
on the island of
Kyūshū is the venue for this tournament.
History
In 2000 the first tournament was contested by 11 Japanese and five foreign high school teams from various countries. (The tournament expanded from 16 to 20 schools in 2009, thus increasing in both size and importance.) It is a unique competition in world rugby for high schools, and is almost a "mini World Cup". The idea was devised and initially funded by the Sanix company president Mr. Munemasa. Sanix still provides about half the substantial costs for overseas teams to participate.
Three or four of the Japanese teams are from the local area
Kyūshū, where high school rugby is particularly strong. The rest are from elsewhere in Japan. A Scottish pipe band is a regular fixture, though there was no band in 2007. However
Dollar Academy
Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills.
Overview
As of 20 ...
has participated twice as Scotland's sole representative so far in the tournament in 2000 and 2004, and George Watson's College Pipe Band, Edinburgh have played both the opening and closing ceremonies from 2008 to date. One Italian team (Istituto Casteller) took part in 2002, and Camarthenshire College from Wales has also participated.
In 2014 the tournament debuted a girls'
rugby sevens tournament to run parallel to the boys' competition. The debut girls' tournament was won by a
Kanto
Kantō (Japanese)
Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics.
In Japan
Kantō may refer to:
*Kantō Plain
*Kantō region
*Kantō-kai, organized crime group
*Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...
regional selection team, and the most recent champions are
St Mary's College, Wellington who won the 2017 tournament.
Competing nations
As of 2018 a total of 20 countries have participated in at least one edition of the Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament, with many countries being represented annually. Nations who have competed in the tournament are as follows:
Champions
Boys' competition
Schools with multiple appearances
In the table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Seasons" column, bold years indicate winning seasons.
Girls' sevens competition
See also
*
Fukuoka Sanix Blues
, formerly ''Fukuoka Sanix Blues'' and ''Fukuoka Sanix Bombs'', was a Japanese rugby union team based in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Founded in April 1994 (Heisei 6), the team rose rapidly through the Kyūshū leagues and was in the Top ...
*
Rugby union in Japan
Rugby union in Japan is a moderately popular sport. Japan has the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world and the sport has been played there for over a century. There are 125,000 Japanese rugby players, 3,631 official rugby ...
*
National High School Rugby Tournament
The National High School Rugby Tournament is held annually since 1917 at Higashi Osaka Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashi Osaka, Japan, from the end of December to early January. All 47 Prefectures of Japan are represented, with four extra teams ( ...
*
The National Schools 7's The Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens is an English rugby union sevens tournament, organised by Rosslyn Park F.C., that has evolved into the world's largest rugby tournament with some 9,500 boys and girls aged 13 – 19 competing annually from o ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Tournament Official Website(English) with downloadable pdfs of results
Invitation on Australian Schools rugby website(from the JRFU, in Japanese)
Sanix World Youth Tournament – Map To The Global Arena(in Japanese)
Global Arena(in Japanese)
International rugby union competitions hosted by Japan
Rugby in Kyushu
High school rugby union
Sport in Fukuoka Prefecture