Urayasu D-Rocks (original) (raw)

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Japanese rugby union club, based in Tokyo Bay

Rugby team

Urayasu D-Rocks 浦安D-Rocks


Full name	Urayasu D-Rocks
Nickname	D-Rocks
Founded	1976; 49 years ago (1976)
Location	Urayasu City, Chiba, Japan
Ground(s)	Chichibunomiya Stadium (Capacity: 27,188)
Coach	Greig Laidlaw
League(s)	Rugby League One, D1
2022–23, 1st of 6	10th of 12 (relegated)
1st kit 2nd kit

Official website
urayasu-d-rocks.com

Urayasu D-Rocks, commonly known as the D-Rocks, or the Shining Arcs, is a rugby union team owned by NTT Communications and is part of Japan's Rugby League One competition, currently in Division 1. Given the name, the team is based in Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture in the Kantō region. The team has undergone several re-brands throughout its history, most recently in 2022, rebranding from Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu in line with the newly formed Japan Rugby League One competition in 2021/22,[1] to the Urayasu D-Rocks in 2022 onwards.[2]

Name	Date(s)
NTT Communications RFCNTTコミュニケーションズRFC	1976–c. 2000s
NTT Communications Shining Arcs/NTT Shining ArcsNTTシャイニングアークス	c. 2000s–2021[_citation needed_]
Urayasu D-Rocks浦安D-Rocks	since 2022[3][2]

NTT Communications RFC was founded in 1976. They won promotion to the expanded Top League of 14 teams at the end of the 2009–10 season. They made their Top League debut for the 2010–11 season. After their first season, they finished 12th place with 4 wins and 9 losses. They had to play a play-off to keep themselves in the Top League, in which they beat Canon Eagles 31–19. In the 2011–12 season, they finished in ninth place.

In July 2022, following the establishment of a new rugby business and sports company by parent company NTT, the Shining Arcs formally rebranded to the Urayasu D-Rocks.[2] The new company, NTT Sports X, was established at the end of the 2022 season and is alleged to have begun with JP¥2.5 billion (US$17.8 million) in capital.[4]

The Urayasu D-Rocks is for the 2025-26 season:[5]

Urayasu D-Rocks squad
Props Gakuto Ishida Yang Jung-soo Hidetomo Nabeshima Kaisei Umeda Genki Sudo Jinichiro Tamanaga Shotaro Hirai Kim Ryo-m* Halaholo Tokolahi* Sekonaia Pole* Hookers Ryuji Fijimura Junichiro Matsushita Samisoni Asaeli* Shokei Kin Locks Manaaki Selby-Rickit Yuta Kojima Kim Ryong-ji* Hunter Morrison Quinten Strange Uwe Helu Shin Takeuchi Yuzuki Sasaki Zephaniah Tuinona*	Flankers Hendrik Tui Tetta Shigematsu No8s Rusiate Finau* Jasper Wiese Daishi Kojima Brody Macaskill* Tamati Ioane Scrum-halves Ren Iinuma (c) Taisei Konishi Norihumi Hashimoto Takuya Shirae Fly-halves Otere Black* Hikaru Tamura Shunta Mori Kim Yu-o*	Centres Shane Gates Samisoni Tua Samu Kerevi Kentaro Nanimatsu Tana Tuhakaraina Soma Matsumoto Luteru Laulala* Wingers Siosifa Lisala Junya Matsumoto Kai Ishii Caleb Cavubati* Ryota Ohata Fullbacks Ryohei Yamanaka Israel Folau Taiga Ishida Takuhei Yasuda Utility Backs

(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped

* denotes players qualified to play for Japan on dual nationality or residency grounds.

Notable former players

[edit]

The Shining Arcs' home stadium is the NTT Grand Chiba Stadium in Ichikawa.[6]
Top League

^ "La nouvelle ligue japonaise s'appelle la Japan Rugby League One". Asie Rugby (in French). 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^ a b c Saito, ラグビーレポート by 斉藤健仁 (27 July 2022). "「浦安D-Rocks」、NTTグループ再編で誕生した新チームの概要。ジャパンラグビーリーグワン" ['Urayasu D-Rocks', an overview of the new team created as a result of the NTT Group restructuring. Japan Rugby League One]. J Sports (in Japanese).
^ McCullagh, Kevin (27 July 2022). "Japan's NTT forms new rugby business unit, reorganises teams". SportBusiness.
^ "ラグビー事業会社の設立について" [Establishment of a rugby business company]. group.ntt (in Japanese). NTT Group. 1 July 2022.
^ "Members". NTT Shining Arcs. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
^ "NTT千葉総合運動場グランドのご紹介" [Introduction of NTT Grand Chiba Stadium]. NTT Communications.

Official website