The Japanese team to lay in the expanded Super Rugby competition is polling fans to find a name.
The obvious choice, Samurai, has been ruled out because it is already used by the national soccer team who are called the Samurai Blue, Reuters reports.
Former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, thefranchise's director of rugby, said he favoured a name that was "uniquely Japanese".
The name must be "powerful" and easy to pronounce. Rugby bosses hope the poll will play a part in building a fan base for the Tokyo-based team.
Concept of the new team name: 1) Name that describes a brave Japan team challenging the world's top teams with passion and pride. 2) Name that is internationally recognised and enables us to attract international rugby fans. 3) Name that represents the imagery of Japanese culture, tradition and history.
Contest Guideline: - Calling for a team name, which is easy to pronounce, powerful and befits the new Japan Super Rugby team. - Both Japanese and English are acceptable. - Any work(s) already copyrighted by third parties or offensive to public order and morals or same with already existing nick names for other sport's national team are not eligible for selection. - Copyright and any other intellectual property rights related to the selected team name will belong to Japan SR Association.
