Tokyo Sungoliath (formerly known as Suntory Sungoliath) is owned by the Suntory beverage company and is one of the Japanese

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 ...

teams in the

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 ...

. The team is based in

Fuchū, Tokyo 260px, Fuchū City Hall is a city located in western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Fuchū serves as a regional commercial center and a commuter town for workers in central Tokyo. The city hosts large scale manufacturing facilities for Toshiba, NEC ...

, as is their local rival

Toshiba Brave Lupus Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup ...

. The team rebranded as Tokyo Sungoliath ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugby League One in 2022. Suntory coached by

Katsuyuki Kiyomiya is a notable Japanese rugby union coach, formerly of Waseda University RFC (2001–06) and now (since 2006) of Suntory Sungoliath. Many in Japan had hoped he would coach the national side in the future however after he criticized the then cur ...

won the

Microsoft Cup The Top League Championship is Japan's highest-level knockout tournament for rugby union clubs. Held annually, the leading teams from the Top League regular season qualify for the playoffs to decide the Cup title. From 2018 onward, the All-Japa ...

on February 24, 2008 by defeating

Sanyo Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

in a close and exciting game, 14-10. Suntory therefore became the champion of the

for the 2007–08 season. On June 18, 2008 it was announced that

George Gregan George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a retired Australian rugby union player, and is currently Australia's most capped international player. Gregan was born in Lusaka, Zambia. He played Super 12 (now Super Rugby) for the Brumbies ...

, the most-capped player in the sport's history, had joined the club on a two-year contract.
Daily Yomiuri
June 19, 2008) Gregan remained with the club until he announced his retirement at the end of the 2010–11 season.

Honours

* All-Japan Championship ** Champions: 1995, 2000, 2001, 2011, 2012 ** Runner-up: 2008 *

** Champions: 2007–08 ** Runner-up: 2005–06, 2006–07 * All-Japan Company Championship ** Champions: 1995, 2001, 2002 * Top League Championship ** Champions: 2011–12

History

The club was established in 1980, and since then they have won the All-Japan Championship on numerous occasions. They have also compete in the recently formed

since its founding in 2003. The team has been improving in the League over the past few years. Suntory Sungoliath famously beat Wales 45-41 on Saturday 3 June 2001 whilst they were on tour in Japan.

Top League Results

In the first season of the Top League, 2003–04, Suntory finished 4th. In 2004–05 they finished 8th. The team was 6th in the 2005–06 season and jumped up to 2nd in the 2006-7 season under new coach

and assisted by Michael Jones. In 2006 Suntory Sungoliath lost the final of the Top League and

title to

by a score of 33-18. Then in February 2007, Suntory Sungoliath again lost the final of the Top League and Microsoft Cup to Toshiba Brave Lupus before a crowd of 23,076 at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Stadium (home to Mark Secker), the first sellout at the ground in 10 years, with the final score being just 14-13 to Toshiba Brave Lupus. In the first Top League game of the 2007-8 season Suntory gained revenge over Toshiba with a 10-3 win on October 26, 2007. At the end of the 13-game season Suntory was second behind

, having lost to Sanyo and by just one point to Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, and drawn 31-31 with

Toyota Verblitz Toyota Verblitz is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Verblitz is a portmanteau of ''verde'' (Spanish and Portuguese for 'green') and ''blitz'' (German for 'lightning'). The team is owned by Toyota Motor Corporation and is ...

in the final round. Sanyo and Suntory met again in the

final on February 24 to decide the 2007–08 Top League champion. Suntory won that game 14-10 with a very strong mauling attack.

Top League Table

The table begins with the first season of the

, 2003-04.

Current squad

The Tokyo Sungoliath squad for the 2023 season is: * * denotes players qualified to play for the Japan on dual nationality or residency grounds.

Notable former players

* Tusi Pisi – Manu Samoa international fly-half *

Schalk Burger Schalk Willem Petrus Burger Jr. (born 13 April 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a flanker for Saracens in the English Premiership and has won 86 caps for South Africa. He was a member of the 2007 ...

– South African flanker * Fourie du Preez – South African scrum half *

Uche Odouza Uche Oduoza (born 15 October 1986 in Glasgow, Scotland) is an English rugby union player who currently plays for Leeds Carnegie. Oduoza's position of choice is wing although he can also play fullback. Career Born in Glasgow, Oduoza grew up in ...

– winger, England (England 7s) *

– Australian scrum-half and the 2nd most-capped player in international rugby history * Rocky Havili – Tongan centre *

Toru Kurihara is a Japanese rugby union player. He plays as a fullback or wing. He played for Suntory Sungoliath. Kurihara had 27 caps for Japan, from 2000 to 2003, scoring 20 tries, 71 conversions and 35 penalties, 347 points on aggregate. He played four t ...

– Japan fullback or wing * Simon Maling – former All Black lock from 2001 to 2004 * Beauden Barrett - All Black five-eighth, 2015 Rugby World Cup Winner * Jamie Washington * George Smith – former Australian flanker 2000-2009, 2013 *

Norm Hadley Norman Hadley (2 December 1964 – 26 March 2016) was a Canadian rugby union player. "Stormin' Norman" was a massive , lock. He played professionally first for London Wasps and then Bedford Blues in the 1990s. In Canada he played for James Bay ...

– lock, former Canadian captain, Barbarian *

Glenn Ennis Glenn D. Ennis (born May 19, 1964 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a former Canadian national rugby player. Ennis played a total of 32 games for Canada, including 3 as captain. He played in the mid to late 1990s in Japan for Suntory ( ...

– former Canadian No. 8, Barbarian

Coach

(2006–09) * Eddie Jones (2009–12) *

Naoya Okubo (born 27 September 1975) is a former Japanese rugby union player. Okubo played 23 matches for the Japan national rugby union team from 1999 to 2004. His regular playing positions were Flanker and Lock. Okubo is the coach of Top League team Su ...

(2012–14) *

Andy Friend Andrew Friend (born 24 April 1969) is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Irish province Connacht. He was previously head coach of the Australia Sevens team, the Brumbies in Super Rugby, English c ...

(2014–16) *

Keisuke Sawaki is a Japanese former long-distance runner who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics and in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: Mü ...

(2016–2019) * Milton Haig (2020-)

References

{{Tokyo Sungoliath squad Japan Rugby League One teams Rugby in Kantō Rugby clubs established in 1980 Sports teams in Tokyo Suntory Fuchū, Tokyo 1980 establishments in Japan