Tokyo (AFP)

Owned by major corporations, major Japanese rugby clubs can afford world-class players, but the hopelessly low affluence to matches could lead to a profound reform of the national championship after the World Cup.

New Zealanders Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams, Australian George Gregan, the Englishman James Haskell: the list of eminent players in the Japanese Top League is like a Who's Who on the planet rugby.

And the phenomenon continues: the current All Blacks captain Kieran Read, his compatriot Brodie Retallick and the Australian scrum half Will Genia have to join the Top League after the 2019 World Cup.

For such stars often late in the career, the Japanese championship has enough to attract, with the high wages it promises, its short seasons (3-4 months) and less physically tough.

In June, the Australian opening half Christian Lealiifano has justified his departure to the Japanese club Shining Arcs, owned by the Japanese telecommunications giant NTT, an offer "too difficult to refuse."

For his career at the Kobelco Steelers club in Kobe (west), which he joined last year after three seasons at Racing 92's Paris club, Dan Carter would have received around 1.3 million dollars (nearly 1.2 million euros), not counting lucrative advertising contracts in Japan.

But so far, this flood of international stars has not been able to stop the disaffection of the public: the Top League matches are usually played in front of a few thousand, sometimes even a few hundred spectators barely.

- "Anyone with two legs" -

The Top League "is a championship of clubs of large companies: they do not represent a city, they have no stadium" allowing a real home atmosphere, says AFP Akimoto Hinato, a rugby expert in Japan.

It is "difficult in these conditions to attract the crowds", except for supporters of the companies themselves, he adds.

These big groups (Toyota, Honda, Toshiba, Suntory ...) are ready to inject a lot of money into their rugby clubs, which they see as a showcase of their own prestige.

This tradition started after the Second World War, when companies from the country founded rugby clubs to get their employees to play, to bond more and improve their physical condition.

Even if this amateur national championship went upmarket by becoming the Top League in 2003, still today many teams mix former international rugby matches with semi-professional players.

Some of these semi-professionals, employees of the company owning their club, sometimes miss training because of their main work. And they generally receive only a symbolic remuneration for their sporting activity.

This hybrid system penalizes the quality of the game offered by the Top League. "Anyone with two legs could play here," said one day Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo, who played in the Top League from 2011 to 2015.

- Towards a 100% professional championship -

However, according to Hinato, the contribution of international stars "has been a big plus" for the Japanese players of the Top League, "who have progressed significantly" by their side.

To improve the quality of the game - and finally seduce the public - Japanese rugby officials had relied heavily on a new club based in Tokyo, the Sunwolves, the first Japanese team to have joined in 2016 the Super Rugby, international league opposing the best teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina.

Las: The Super Rugby organizers have recently decided to remove the Sunwolves from the tournament after the 2020 season, given their poor results so far.

A new national championship in Japan with 12 clubs, composed this time of 100% professional players, is now envisaged by 2021.

According to Hinato, "six to eight clubs" in the current Top League are already supportive of the project, also meaning to truly identify with a city or region.

"This is the most important event for the future of Japanese rugby, much more than the Rugby World Cup itself," says the expert.

© 2019 AFP