Takuro Miuchi is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player, who plays number eight. He was captain of the Japan national rugby union team

Japan national rugby union team

The Japan national rugby union team represent Japan in international rugby union competitions. Japan is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia but has both enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years...

 until relieved of that responsibility by Japan national team coach Jean-Pierre Elissalde

Jean-Pierre Elissalde

Jean-Pierre Élissalde is a French rugby union former player and a current coach.A native of La Rochelle, a seaport city on the Bay of Biscay, Jean-Pierre Élissalde played, at scrum half, five times for France in 1980 and 1981...

 in a surprise move during February 2006. He was recalled to the team for the IRB Pacific 5 Nations

IRB Pacific 5 Nations

The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition originally known as the IRB Pacific 5 Nations and held between five Pacific Rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and Junior All Blacks, . Previously, New Zealand was once represented by the New Zealand Māori...

 games, and has appeared in 2 World Cups

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....

 - 2003

2003 Rugby World Cup

The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...

 and 2007

2007 Rugby World Cup

The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...

.

He also plays for NEC Green Rockets

NEC Green Rockets

NEC Green Rockets is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. The team's captain is . The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who is currently the captain of the Japan national rugby union team. Before the semi-professional Top League was created, the team was just known as "NEC"...

 in the Top League

Top League

The Top League is a professional rugby union league created by the Japan Rugby Football Union to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport in the country and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season was 2003-04 and featured 12 teams...

, and was the NEC captain before Ryota Asano.

Under John Kirwan

John Kirwan (rugby player)

John James Patrick Kirwan, ONZM, MBE is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, and former All Black, turned coach. With 35 tries in 63 tests for the All Blacks, Kirwan appears on the list of the highest try scorers in Rugby Union history....

 (appointed head coach January 1, 2007) he again became captain of Japan, and appeared in the Japanese squad for the 2007 World Cup and the 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup

2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup

The 2008 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between six national sides on the Pacific Rim: Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand Māori . The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This year the tournament started on 7 June and ended on 6 July 2008.The tournament...

.

Early life

Takuro is originally from Tobata ward in Kitakyushu city. He first learned rugby at Sayagatani rugby school, and played also for Yahata High School.

He played as a student for Kanto Gakuin University

Kanto Gakuin University

is a private university located in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The school's official English name is Mabie Memorial School.-History:It traces its roots to The Baptist Theological Seminary of Yokohama established by Albert Arnold Bennett, a missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, in...

 and for a year at Oxford University where he gained a blue. Miuchi's first international cap was on May 19, 2002 in a match against .

External links

• Miuchi gets recall for Pac Five, Daily Yomiuri, May 20, 2006
• Élissalde springs surprise as Miuchi gets the chop, Daily Yomiuri, February 28, 2006
• Miuchi on the Rockets website