Mie Honda Heat

Mie Honda Heat is a Japanese rugby union team based in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The owner of the club is Honda Motor. (Suzuka is known for the Suzuka Circuit and the presence of car companies. Conveniently, the team uses Suzuka to jog on as part of their training programme.)

They play in the Japan Rugby League One, the top tier of 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 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.Template:Citation needed

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, 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.Template:Citation needed

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.<ref name="result15–16">Rugbyarchive.net, Top League season 2015–16</ref> 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.<ref name="result16–17">Rugbyarchive.netTemplate:Dead link, Top League season 2016–17</ref>

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.<ref name="result17–18">Rugbyarchive.net, Top Challenge League season 2017–18</ref>

Current squad

The current Mie Honda Heat squad for the 2025–26 season is:<ref name="Player Profiles">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mie Honda Heat squad
Props Template:Flagicon Tatsuhiko Tsurukawa Template:Flagicon Takumi Fuji Template:Flagicon Kanato Hirano Template:Flagicon Matthys Basson* Template:Flagicon Katsuyuki Hoshino Template:Flagicon Taiki Yoshioka Template:Flagicon Haruto Takahashi Template:Flagicon Kenta Hirai Template:Flagicon Kazuki Ban Template:Flagicon Feinga Fakai* Hookers Template:Flagicon Tevita Ikanivere Template:Flagicon Kouki Hida Template:Flagicon Hiroaki Shirahama Template:Flagicon Kazuhiro Koike Template:Flagicon Ren Toma Template:Flagicon Ikuma Yamada Locks Template:Flagicon Ryoma Nishimura Template:Flagicon Trevor Hosea Template:Flagicon Mark Abbott* Template:Flagicon Connor Wihongi* Template:Flagicon Janko Swanepoel Template:Flagicon Franco Mostert Template:Flagicon Sam Shepherd	Flankers Template:Flagicon Ryutaro Nakayama Template:Flagicon Waimana Kapa (c) Template:Flagicon Tevita Tupou Template:Flagicon Aseri Masivou Template:Flagicon Yuta Shirasaka Template:Flagicon Ryo Furuta Template:Flagicon Tony Hunt* Template:Flagicon Kei Toma No8s Template:Flagicon Pablo Matera Template:Flagicon Talifolofola Tangipa* Scrum-halves Template:Flagicon Shogo Nezuka Template:Flagicon Azuma Doei Template:Flagicon Takuro Hojo Template:Flagicon Koki Miyasaka Template:Flagicon Taichi Takenaka Fly-halves Template:Flagicon Hayata Nakao Template:Flagicon Riku Kitahara Template:Flagicon Oh Gwang-tee* Template:Flagicon Manu Vunipola	Centres Template:Flagicon Johnny Fa'auli Template:Flagicon Kyogo Okano Template:Flagicon Fraser Quirk* Template:Flagicon Dawid Kellerman* Template:Flagicon Soki Watanabe Wingers Template:Flagicon Larry Sulunga Template:Flagicon Tevita Li Template:Flagicon Ben Paltridge* Template:Flagicon Rakuhei Yamashita Template:Flagicon Akauola Manu* Fullbacks Template:Flagicon Kengo Gunji Template:Flagicon Haruhiko Uemura Template:Flagicon Yuta Matsuura Template:Flagicon FC Du plessis Utility Backs Template:Flagicon Lomano Lava Lemeki Template:Flagicon Yu Kawai
(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped

Coaches

• Template:Flagicon John Sherratt: April 2008 – March 2010<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Template:Flagicon Danny Lee: May 2017 - May 2021<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Template:Flagicon Taihei Ueda: June 2023 – present<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Template:Flagicon Kieran Crowley: 2024 - onwards

See also

• Top League Challenge Series

External links

• Honda Heat Rugby - official site
• Honda Heat Stats - Rugbyarchive.net

Template:Japan Rugby League One Template:Top Challenge League Template:Rugby union in Japan {{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:Mie Honda Heat squad