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Tokyo Sungoliath

Japanese rugby union club, based in Tokyo

Summary

Japanese rugby union club, based in Tokyo

Field	Value
teamname	Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath東京サントリーサンゴリアス
image	Tokyo Sungoliath logo.jpg
image_size	200px
founded	April 1980
ground	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
capacity	27,188
union	Japan Rugby Football Union
countryflag	Japan
location	Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan
coach	Kiyonori Tanaka
captain	Kosuke Horikoshi
league	Japan Rugby League One
season	2023
position	3rd
pattern_la1	_Suntoryleft17
pattern_b1	_Suntorykit17
pattern_ra1	_Suntoryright17
pattern_sh1	_Suntoryshorts17
pattern_so1	_Suntorysocks17
leftarm1	F7AC1D
body1	ffff00
rightarm1	F7AC1D
shorts1	000000
socks1	000000
pattern_la2	_suntoryleftb
pattern_b2	_suntorykitb
pattern_ra2	_suntoryrightb
pattern_sh2	_suntoryshortsb
pattern_so2	_suntorysocksb
url	https://www.suntory.co.jp/culture-sports/sungoliath/

Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath (formerly known as Suntory Sungoliath) is owned by the Suntory beverage company and is one of the Japanese rugby union teams in the Top League. The team is based in Fuchū, Tokyo, as is their local rival Toshiba Brave Lupus. The team rebranded as Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugby League One in 2022.

Suntory coached by Katsuyuki Kiyomiya won the Microsoft Cup on February 24, 2008 by defeating Sanyo Wild Knights in a close and exciting game, 14-10. Suntory therefore became the champion of the Top League for the 2007–08 season.

On June 18, 2008 it was announced that George Gregan, 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
Microsoft Cup
- 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 competed in the Top League 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 Katsuyuki Kiyomiya and assisted by Michael Jones.

In 2006 Suntory Sungoliath lost the final of the Top League and Microsoft Cup title to Toshiba Brave Lupus 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 Sanyo Wild Knights, having lost to Sanyo and by just one point to Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, and drawn 31-31 with Toyota Verblitz in the final round. Sanyo and Suntory met again in the Microsoft Cup 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 Top League, 2003-04.

Season	Order	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	T	G	PG	DG	Penalties	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Pts	Coach
2003–04	4th	11	8	0	3	61	44	5	0	150	408	265	143	42	Yuji Nagatomo
2004–05	8th	11	4	0	7	43	28	12	0	142	307	282	25	24	Yuji Nagatomo
2005–06	6th	11	6	0	5	43	30	10	1	118	308	241	67	32	Yuji Nagatomo
2006–07	2nd	13	11	0	2	81	58	8	0	157	545	161	384	56	Katsuyuki Kiyomiya
2007–08	2nd	13	10	1	2	70	47	3	0	106	453	229	224	53	Katsuyuki Kiyomiya

Current squad

The Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath squad for the 2025-26 season is:

Tokyo Sungoliath squad


(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped

- denotes players qualified to play for Japan on dual nationality or residency grounds.

Notable former players

Tusi Pisi – Manu Samoa international fly-half
Schalk Burger – South African flanker
Fourie du Preez – South African scrum half
Uche Odouza – winger, England (England 7s)
George Gregan – Australian scrum-half and the 2nd most-capped player in international rugby history
Rocky Havili – Tongan centre
Toru Kurihara – 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 – lock, former Canadian captain, Barbarian
Glenn Ennis – former Canadian No. 8, Barbarian

Coach

JPN Katsuyuki Kiyomiya (2006–09)
AUS Eddie Jones (2009–12)
JPN Naoya Okubo (2012–14)
AUS Andy Friend (2014–16)
JPN Keisuke Sawaki (2016–2019)
NZL Milton Haig (2020-)

Notes

References

(16 July 2021). "La nouvelle ligue japonaise s'appelle la Japan Rugby League One". Asie Rugby.
"Suntory Sungoliath: The Team". Suntory Sungoliath.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

japan-rugby-league-one-teams rugby-clubs-established-in-1980 rugby-union-teams-in-tokyo suntory fuchū,-tokyo 1980-establishments-in-japan

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