Profiles
Simon “Rhino” Ryan - Club president (Outside Half)
A former 1st XV captain and club legend, Rhino is now president of the rugby section. His occasional cameos on the field show that he still has his skills of old. Even more impressive are his performances on tour – he leads the way on every night out, and yet is somehow the first up next morning to rally the troops.
‘Slow’ Joe Fisher - 1st XV Captain (Prop/Flanker)
When Slow Joe joined YCAC during the 2006/07 season he claimed to be a flanker but his lack of pace and refusal to offload in the tackle raised suspicions amongst the Committee. Sure enough it transpires that Joe played senior club rugby in New Zealand at prop and was quickly returned to his rightful position. Despite this, he still managed to be the YCAC’s top-equal try-scorer for the 2007/08 season (along with vice-captain and fellow ball-hog Dougal Robertson). With his deep voice and manly exterior, who would have expected Slow Joe to have rushed to put on a miniskirt, stockings and false boobs for the YCAC Rugby 2007 Christmas Party?
Dean Stallard – 1st XV Vice-captain (Prop/Hooker)
Dean’s first match for the club was against the Cru in February 2008. To quote from the Vicar’s match report, Dean “made his debut in fine YCAC tradition by cheating on the pitch, cheating in the Man Of The Match drink off, having to dash from the train three stops before our destination for a p*ss break, being the first member of the side to leave the pub with a pretty Asian girl and then sending round an e-mail to lads on Monday morning to ask if anyone had found his mobile phone. Clearly, Dean is going to be a stellar member of the YCAC Front Row Union for years to come.” Since that fine beginning, Dean has continued to be a star for YCAC both on and off the field.
Tristan Fahy – 1st XV Vice-captain (Outside half / Centre)
Tristan’s first appeared at YCAC for the GM Cup match against the Crusaders in 2007. Unfortunately for us he was in Crusaders colours that day. Since then this ex-Ireland U19’s rep has made a number of appearances for YCAC, always impressing with textbook skills and an excellent rugby brain. We must have also made an impression with him because by the time the return fixture against the Crusaders came about in early 2008 Tristan did the unusual double of playing for YCAC in the Gents match and the Crusaders in the 1st XV match.
Steve “The Vicar” Lewis - Gents XV captain (Referee)
Used to controlling the game in the number 10 shirt, a tragic bar injury means the Vicar now exercises his authority with the selector’s pen and the referee’s whistle. Since his marriage in 2006 Roppongi nightclubs have complained that their after midnight sales of Long Island Ice Teas have decreased dramatically. However, the arrival of his first child in 2007 has ensured that the Vicar is still turning up on Sundays with only a couple of hours of sleep under his belt.
Jason Dunn - Gents XV vice-captain (Winger/Centre/Full Back)
Hailing from NZ, JD is a man of many roles: Property guru by day, family man at night, on-field captain of the Gents XV on the weekends. Lightning quick on attack and strong on defence it is unfortunate that a string of leg injuries have limited JD’s appearances over the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons. Speculation that since the recent birth of his daughter JD’s hammy isn’t the only thing he has been pulling is yet to be confirmed.
Fraser Jamieson - Club treasurer (Outside Half)
Tokyo’s ‘Yen Loans’ man and premier expert in male hair-care, Fraser continues to dedicate many hours to maintaining our relationship with our bar sponsors in Tokyo. On the field, despite a string of injuries that would have seen him put down long ago if he was a horse, Jamieson is still going strong, with his rear end actually being awarded the Gents ‘Player of the Year’ award for the 2006/2007 season. The Committee believe that this is the first time that a body part (rather than a whole person) has won the award and are currently seeking to verify this.
Erich “The Freezer” Friess - Social director (Loose Head)
The Freezer has been as solid as a rock ever since his first year with YCAC, and led from the front as 1st XV captain for two seasons from 2002 to 2004. A three-time past winner of the golden bagel (for zero points in a season) Freezer’s main aim in life is now to cross the try line at least once per season – something he didn’t manage to do for the entire 2007/08 season.
Mike King - Social director (Hooker/Second Row)
The Chairman of the YCAC ‘Midget’s Club’, Mike has adapted well to his new role as hooker after the departure of Sushi meant that there was no-one else of equal ’stature’ to join him in the second row. Whilst enjoying a sabbatical from the working world during the 2007/08 season, Mike spent his time exploring his passions for acting and interpretative dance. Now reborn as a consultant, Mike’s focus for the 2008/09 season is to avoid joining Freezer in the end of year golden bagel awards.
Simon “Supreme Splinter” Litster - Coaching Advisor
A former Hong Kong representative (15s & 7s), Simon was an outstanding captain of YCAC’s first XV back in the last century. He earned his nickname by consistently failing to stick with the programme and leaving club tours halfway through. Has now hung up his boots due to the early onset of brittle bone disease but is still involved with the teams as a forwards advisor. Clearly a man who likes a challenge, Simon is also expanding his coaching in areas outside of rugby by acting as “Wingman” for Ken Noguchi.
Scott Sizemore (Prop/Hooker)
Scott came to Yokohama shortly after Commodore Perry and his black ships and has been thriving here ever since. It’s not clear whether he personally introduced rugby to the Japanese, but he does claim responsibility for the concept of beer. His astonishing performances with the yard glass lend support to this claim.
Rafi Khan (hooker, flanker)
After starting out his rugby in Tokyo with another foreigner club, Rafi “Ghengis” Khan saw the light during the 2008/09 season and is now a YCAC regular. Physically powerful and with an appetite for domination, Rafi is one marauder you don’t want to come face to face with on the open plain. Fit, skilful and equally adept at either hooker or flanker the only thing holding Rafi back from rugby greatness are the absences caused by the constant “business trips” required to further his goal of one day conquering all of Asia.
Naiki ‘Nike’ Yoshio (Prop)
A former corporate rugby player (with the Shimizu Blue Sharks), Nike travels all the way from Niigata each weekend to turn out for YCAC. With an impressive motor giving the perfect center of gravity for a prop, many an opponent has remembered an urgent dentist’s appointment when seeing Nike lining up against them. The only question looming over Nike is how a guy who spends so much time bathing (onsens, soaplands, etc.) can maintain such a consistent full-body aroma.
Daisuke Okada (Prop)
A former Honda player, Daisuke has been a pillar of strength in the front line of the YCAC scrum for a number of seasons now. It was not always thus though – Daisuke started off as a flanker but has gradually worked his way forward as the years have passed. A sprinter in his youth, Daisuke’s speed could now be best described as glacial. Daisuke is a player who prefers to do virtually all of his talking on the field but does make a valuable contribution to team harmony through the constant supply of Apple products to his team-mates.
Sias Potgieter (Second Row)
Originally from Cape Town, Sias has travelled the world with his rugby boots before moving to Japan. Now married to a Japanese girl the big South African looks set for a long stay in the land of the Rising Sun. That may explain why he is conserving his energy at YCAC by refusing to warm-up and spending long periods of time on the wing – although it must be said that this policy has been paying dividends – Sias was awarded the prize for the 1st XV ‘Most Improved Player’ for the 2007/08 season.
Stephen Marcon (Second Row)
Stephen saw the light at the end of the 2006/07 season and defected from the Tokyo Crusaders to YCAC. However, his timing was unfortunate insofar as our one-point loss to the Cru in the 2007 GM Cup match meant that he was the only person in the room who had played in the losing side in both of the last two fixtures! However, since then Stephen has formed a strong locking partnership with fellow man-mountain Sias Potgieter and he more than got his own back on his old club when YCAC hammered the Cru 55-0 in February 2008.
Dom Townsend (Flanker)
An ex-Queensland Schoolboys and U19’s representative, Dom is almost the model of what a perfect flanker should be: fast, tenacious, and skillful. Like his long-term ‘friend’ and house-mate, Matt Creagh, Dom is also unusually reliable for an Aussie – he always turns up on time. Unfortunately he is also reliable for always pulling his hammy at about the same point in every match – one of the dangers of being such a highly tuned athlete.
Matt Dimond (Flanker/Centre)
Matt is the son of two British diplomats and was actually born in Japan during a posting here. Despite the nick name ‘Posh Spice’, Matt has quickly developed a reputation as the Iron Man of YCAC rugby by always playing two full matches whenever needed. A strong runner with the ball Matt refuses to throw 50/50 passes – they’re all less than that!
Sandy Rose (Flanker/Winger)
Sandy’s confusion over his preferred position does nothing to dampen his commitment on the field, and makes the selectors’ lives much easier. Sandy has also been a very good Recruiting Agent in recent times, bringing in a steady stream of Seppo’s from the Navy Base to fill out YCAC’s ranks.
Alex Curran (Flanker)
Alex joined YCAC for the 2007/08 season. Rugby-wise he has been totally reliable, working tirelessly around the field and impressing with his strong defence. However, this has been balanced out by his complete unreliability in terms of actually getting to the pitch either on time or at all. Despite a tendency to ‘Reply All’ and let all c. 100 members on the YCAC Distribution List know that he is keen for a game, Alex’s strike rate of actually turning up around after committing is hovering around the 50% mark. Given his rugby prowess, we are all hoping he will be able to improve on this during the 2008/09 season.
Brimman Frazer (lock, flanker)
Brimman “Brutus” Frazer sailed to YCAC on the same boat of youth as Chris Mander, his “close friend” and “housemate”. The marine analogy is literally true with Brimman as he spent some of his youth travelling around the world in a yacht – rumours that it was a two-man yacht with him as the “captain” and Chris as his “first mate” have yet to be confirmed though. Regardless, since arriving at YCAC Brimman has made a huge impact in the forwards and is a great asset both in the tight stuff and out wide, playing 1st team rugby at both lock and open side flanker. Off the field Brimman is happiest playing sailor and is best known for consuming vast amounts of whiskey, red bull and coke mixers and then getting refusals from most of the bars in Roppongi. Nickname comes from a treacherous defection from the Rest of the World side to Europe for the 2009 Panty Shield.
Steve “Big Cuzzy Bro” Gray (No. 8)
Steve arrived at YCAC during the 2006/07 season with a strong rugby CV – ex-NZ schoolboys and the last 4 years on a rugby scholarship at a top level Japanese university. Better yet, his performances on the pitch for YCAC have been every bit as impressive as his background suggests they would be, none more so than his Man of the Match effort in the 2008 Interport. However, given that he has now joined YCAC’s ever-expanding ranks of brokers, his opponents are no doubt hopeful that the heavy social requirements of the new job will bring him down to the same level as the rest of us.
Dougal Robertson (Scrum Half)
During his first stay with YCAC, Doogs’ scoring record and all-round contribution made him the obvious choice for player of the year in 2000/01. A nasty head injury in early 2002, closely followed by a broken neck and a return to NZ seemed to end his career with YCAC but now he is back. He won player of the year for a second time in 2003/04, took on the captaincy of the 1st XV from 2004 to 2006, and then went on to win player of the year for a third time in 2006/07. Much to his teammates amusement, Doogs took to wearing a bone white scrum-cap for much of the 2007/08 season, reportedly a present from ‘The Frenchie’ to help keep his good looks in place prior to their August 2008 wedding.
Chris Mander (halfback, wing)
Chris “Benedict Arnold” Mander was part of a wave of young, keen players who arrived at YCAC during the 2008/09 season. Chris is now well known at YCAC for his darting runs, big hits and crisp passing. He also likes to make a statement off the field, particularly when it comes to rugby tours where Chris seems to be the one “wing man” you don’t want on your team. However, apart from a tendency to cut his teammates lunch when “on the prowl”, Chris is a great addition to the YCAC family and a useful utility as he can play not just at No. 9 but on the wing too. Nickname comes from a treacherous defection from the Rest of the World side to Europe for the 2009 Panty Shield.
Ben Duncan (Outside Half)
Ben has been a points scoring machine for YCAC and has the distinction of holding the current all-time record for points scored in one match (42 – 4 tries and 11 out of 11 conversions against Koryo in December 2007). As well as being fast out of the blocks on the rugby field he is also fast out of the blocks in the aftermatch as well – perhaps he is just keen to get behind the wheel of that new Porsche!
Willie Lapthorn (Outside half / Fullback)
As the nephew of Club President Simon “Rhino” Ryan, a lot was expected from Willie – both on and off the field – when he first joined YCAC for the 2007/08 season. In most areas he has lived up to expectations – silky skills on the pitch, iron stamina in the bar and a thousand words a minute in both places. However, the presence of a steady girlfriend has disappointed the Committee (a group of married men whose sole pleasure is now to live vicariously through the younger members of the club).
Rich Watkins (flyhalf, fullback)
Rich “Fabio” Watkins can be compared to Houdini, the famous trickery artist. With a puff of smoke Rich arrived from Singapore in late 2008 and made an immediate impact when he debuted for YCAC in that season’s GM Cup match. His rugby ability was evident from the minute he stepped on the pitch with skills and cheeky runs that firmed his place in the 1sts squad. However, since then we have discovered that trying to get Rich to turn up on a regular basis is actually the most difficult trick of all. Admittedly, Rich does have many off the pitch activities which demand his time – his modelling career and smooching with the ladies to mention just a couple. However, with more consistent appearances so far in the 2009/10 season we are all hoping Rich’s off-field Houdini tricks have now been tamed.
Maui Magele (Centre)
Married young and with two kids already Maui plays rugby like he has sex: Full force and no protection! When ‘The Chiropracter’ is not busy maiming opponents on the field or expanding his family off it he doubles as YCAC’s resident fashion guru and is a specialist in the field of white leather shoes.
Ben Patu (Centre)
Ben has shown how much YCAC means to him by turning down a lucrative career as a Michael Jackson look-alike (pre-op) to work alongside Kieran Walsh in the wireless communications industry. Unfortunately YCAC have not yet reaped the benefits of this selfless choice as the strong running and big tackling ex U-19 Samoa rep has struggled with a knee injury for much of the 2007/08 season. The real shame for the rest of the team is that this has meant we didn’t see his girlfriend all season!
Mike Griffin (Centre)
Griffo arrived at YCAC for the 2007/08 season with an excellent rugby pedigree – ex-Australian U19’s and over 200 First Grade games for the Sydney University club – and immediately cemented a place in the 1sts midfield with his slick passing and excellent defence. Unfortunately, as an Aussie, Griffo does have an unfortunate tendency towards lateness – the best example being when he missed the flight to Kobe for the 2008 Interport because he had been out in Roppongi until 7 am the night before. However, he usually pulls through in the end though – for the Interport he redeemed himself by getting on the shinkansen and arriving in Kobe in time to put in an excellent performance.
Go Ito (Winger)
Difficult to spot as he’s so damn elusive, his deceptive change of pace, from very quick to blindingly quick, makes Go our secret weapon and a major try scorer. Unfortunately, in recent years Go’s elusiveness has extended to outside the pitch and he has played only occasional games in the last few seasons.
Arnaud ‘Mature’ Terrien (Winger)
As a classic Frenchman Arnaud appreciates maturity in the finer things in life: His wine, his cheese and his women. A twinkle-toed winger with more straggly hair than a French poodle, Arnaud has scored many a try by flicking his Gallic locks in the face of the on-rushing full-back before touching down in the corner.
Ken Noguchi (Winger)
Ken is a perfect example of the international nature of the YCAC rugby club: Born in Japan, educated in Scotland and England (Oxford), eight years in Iran with a major Japanese corporate and now happily residing within spitting distance of the YCAC grounds. This varied background has combined to form a winger small in stature but with a remarkable try-scoring ratio. Scoring off the pitch is proving more of a problem, indeed Ken’s time in Iran has left him with an unfortunate female phobia and a liking for facial hair (other peoples).
Eparama ‘Little Cuzzy Bro’ Tuibenau (Winger)
Eps arrived at the club during the 2006/07 season and has played two games every weekend since. Officially voted as the World’s Hairiest Man in 2007, Eps possesses a remarkable amount of energy on the pitch for somebody that needs to shave six times a day. With a sledgehammer fend and terrific acceleration, Eps is another who tends to do all his talking on the field. Of course, being a cuzzy bro he manages to convey almost everything he needs to say off the field with his eyebrows!
Kenji Yoshioka (Winger/Flanker)
Kenji joined YCAC during the 2007/08 season and immediately stood out because of his red gloves. Of course peer pressure is a wonderful thing and Kenji soon stopped wearing the aforementioned accessories – at least on the rugby field. Ditching the gloves obviously didn’t do any harm to Kenji’s tryscoring abilities though as he ended up as the Gents top-tryscorer for the 2007/08 season.
Adam Kennedy (wing)
Since his debut during the 2007/08 season, Adam “The Portly Winger” Kennedy has put in many a “solid” performance for the YCAC Gents. Although mainly playing in his favoured wing position, Adam has had some interesting position switches in his time at YCAC with his promotion to the 2nd row standing out as a particular highlight. Whilst this unusual career move worked well for Gents legends Mike “Masivo” King and Atsushi “Sushi” Fuji, Adam quickly decided the engine room was no place for him and promptly hightailed it back to the safety of the wing for the next match. Adam’s key achievement in YCAC so far was avoiding a bagel during the 2008/09 season with one solitary but spectacular try – a feat he is keen to repeat this season. Has been mentioned as a serious challenger to Fraser “Buffalo Butt” Jamieson for the Back Obesity Perpetual Shield – watch this space.