Japan Rugby has sent two full-time Rugby Coaches, Tatsuji Uchiyama and Yuta Nakagawa to Indonesia to assist PRUI as part of the “Asian Scrum Project” which has been set up to promote Rugby development throughout Asia in the lead up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup which will be held in Japan. These two Coaches will assist PRUI in the running of the recently set up Community Rugby program called the “Indonesian Rugby HUB Program” which will revolve around four regional HUB’s to be located in Jakarta, Bali, Papua and Manado.

Tatsuji and Yuta have been in Indonesia for just over two weeks and during that time they have already carried out several Rugby Clinics in Jakarta, Bogor and Yogyakarta. This Friday they will head out to Jonggol, south of Jakarta and then over to Bali for the weekend. It also planned for them to travel to outlying regions such as Papua, Sulawesi and Halmahera over the coming months.

There is a Japanese Rugby Community based in Jakarta, which have a Rugby Club called “Jakarta Japan Rugby Gila” or JJRG. They have welcomed Tatsuji and Yuta to their regular training sessions out at ISCI plus have also shared some evenings out to make them both feel welcome in familiar surrounds in Jakarta. Similarly, Akmal Nasser and others from Indonesian Rugby has also helped them settle into life in Indonesia.

Apart from assisting in Rugby development, Tatsuji and Yuta are also assisting PRUI National Rugby Development Manager, Jamie Johnston in the selection a squad of players for the newly National U20’s Squad and the National Men’s Rugby Team, the Rhinos. Both of these teams have international tournaments coming up in June 2013.

Indonesian Rugby is very thankful to Japan Rugby for sending Tatsuji and Yuta to this country, and hopes this is the beginning of a long standing relationship between the two Unions.