Toyota Verblitz teammates Kieran Read and Michael Hooper lead a string of illustrious imports to the Japanese game
Kieran Read and Michael Hooper captained their countries at the 2019 World Cup and are back in Japan as teammates at Toyota Verblitz, a team coached by Steve Hansen. Japan’s Top League will be restructured next year and it is estimated the tournament will generate more than £400m a year, helping it to attract more of the game’s top players in becoming rugby’s version of cricket’s Indian Premier League.
Read, whose New Zealand career ended at the World Cup, and Hooper, who has not had to sacrifice his international career by moving to Japan, are among a growing galaxy of overseas internationals playing in the Top League: Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Ben Smith, Willie le Roux, Malcolm Marx, Samu Kerevi, George Kruis, Alex Goode, Hadleigh Parkes and Greig Laidlaw are among the others.
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