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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Current squad

The current Mie Honda Heat squad for the 2025–26 season is:

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! colspan="100%" | Mie Honda Heat squad

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Props

  • Takumi Fujī
  • Tatsuhiko Tsurukawa
  • Kanato Hirano
  • Matthys Basson*
  • Katsuyuki Hoshino
  • Taiki Yoshioka
  • Haruto Takahashi
  • Kenta Hirai
  • Kazuki Ban
  • Feinga Fakai*

Hookers

  • Tevita Ikanivere
  • Kazuhiro Koike
  • Hiroaki Shirahama
  • Koki Hida
  • Ren Toma
  • Ikuma Yamada

Locks

  • Ryoma Nishimura
  • Connor Wihongi*
  • Sam Shepherd
  • Trevor Hosea
  • Franco Mostert
  • Mark Abbott*
  • Janko Swanepoel

||

Flankers

  • Ryūtaro Nakayama
  • Waimana Kapa* (c)
  • Tevita Tupou
  • Aseri Masivou
  • Ryo Furuta
  • Yūta Shirasaka
  • Kei Toma
  • Tony Hunt*
  • Tomoki Kusuda <sup>REP</sup>
  • Koki Miyashita <sup>REP</sup>

No8s

  • Pablo Matera
  • Talifolofola Tangipa*

Scrum-halves

  • Shogo Nezuka
  • Azuma Doei
  • Takuro Hojo
  • Koki Miyasaka
  • Taichi Takenaka

Fly-halves

  • Riku Kitahara
  • Hayata Nakao
  • Manu Vunipola
  • Oh Gwang-tee*

||

Centres

  • Dawid Kellerman*
  • Johnny Fa'auli
  • Kyogo Okano
  • Fraser Quirk*
  • Soki Watanabe

Wingers

  • Larry Sulunga
  • Tevita Li
  • Ben Paltridge*
  • Rakuhei Yamashita
  • Manu Akauola*
  • Kazuya Yamamura <sup>REP</sup>
  • Shunichiro Naka <sup>REP</sup>

Fullbacks

  • Kengo Gunji
  • FC Du plessis
  • Haruhiko Uemura
  • Yūta Matsuura
  • Tavake Oto* <sup>REP</sup>

Utility Backs

  • Lomano Lava Lemeki
  • Yū Kawai

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| colspan="100%" style="height: 10px;" |

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| colspan="100%" style="text-align:center;" | <small> (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped</small>

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Coaches

  • John Sherratt: April 2008 – March 2010
  • Danny Lee: May 2017 - May 2021
  • Taihei Ueda: June 2023 – present
  • Kieran Crowley: 2024 - onwards

See also

  • Top League Challenge Series

References

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