FILE
After their third place finish in an international schools tournament, Rotorua Boys' High School's rugby squad is set to visit a tsunami-hit region of Japan.
The squad plays a match against a representative side from the Iwate Prefecture today before travelling to an area devastated by the 2011 disaster.
The area, located in the Tohoku region of Honshu island will be a real eye opener for the players, as it is still recovering from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit on Friday, 11 March 2011, which triggered a large tsunami and extensive damage.
Iwate Prefecture is one of the 12 places that will host a Rugby World Cup game in 2019 -the venue being the 15,000 seater Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium.
Principal Chris Grinter, who is currently with the squad, is "honoured," to have been given this opportunity.
"The area suffered such a devastating disaster five years ago but now the turn around is well on its way and this game really gives the local rugby people a chance to host an overseas team in preparation for the world cup," said Grinter.
"It's a very special invitation given to us via an old boy of our school and the Japan Rugby Union, and I would like to personally thank them for that."
This visit comes after the school's 1st XV bowed out of the Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament in style by demolishing England's Truro College 75-12 in the third place play-off after previously losing the semi-final 29-12 to Glenwood High School from South Africa.
The players slid over for 12 tries against their English opponents, in front of an enthralled 5000-strong crowd much to the delight of Grinter.
"After the disappointment of the loss to a very strong South African team our boys bounced back with a game of excellent running rugby," he said.
"They played with great confidence, style and flair creating a great spectacle to watch.
"It was obvious the crowd loved it and clearly saw our team as the most exciting in the tournament.
"In the South African game our usual play was stifled because they had a very conservative forward mauling style which played to their strengths but was a little lacking in excitment."
Many positives can be taken from the tournament, after they comfortably reached the last four by beating Tokai University Gyosel High from Japan 52-10 earlier in the week and sailed through the pool rounds with three wins out of three, amassing the most number of points by any other team in the group stages.
However the players have little time to catch their breath. After travelling from Sendai to Tokyo by bullet train to catch the flight home on Monday, they will stop off in Hamilton on their way back to Rotorua on Tuesday to face St Johns College in the Chiefs Cup.