Pre-Season Match Report

Scrum-half Azuma Doei Makes His Verblitz Debut

Toyota Verblitz played an away pre-season match against Urayasu D-Rocks on the 23rd of October and secured a 40–31 victory.

The thunder has joined us with the thunder gods. Scrum-half Azuma Doei, whose signing was announced on the 9th of October, made his debut in the first pre-season match, wearing the No. 9 jersey.

He moved from Munakata Sanix Blues to Mie Honda Heat (now Tochigi Honda Heat) for the 2023–24 season. He started 16 matches last season, but his contract ended at the conclusion of the season. He joined Verblitz after completing a two-week trial.

Although he played for the first 40 minutes, he distributed the ball at good pace when the forwards drove towards the opposition's try line, creating rhythm for the team to move forward. He also showed confidence by taking on the defence himself when he spotted space. He made an early statement in the competition for a starting spot at Verblitz.

“Toyota's forwards have a lot of players who want the ball, which makes it easy to play as a No. 9. Each player has a different timing for when they want the ball, so I want to build connections with them through training from now on.”

After the previous season ended, he missed the window for negotiating a move to another club. For a while, he stayed at his family home in Kyoto, visiting a school run by an acquaintance and continuing to train with friends on a rented pitch. When the trial was arranged, he said, “I knew a lot of people from Teikyo University, so it was easy to fit in from the start. The senior players were also very friendly.”

His university teammates include Prop Gaku Shimizu、Fly-half Masahiro Kitamura and Center Nicholas McCurran. All three played in this match and encouraged him to take on this new challenge.

“I'm finally at the starting line. Now I just want to focus on getting into games and winning.”

Against Urayasu D-Rocks, Lock Lourens Erasmus, one of the team's leaders this season, served as game captain for the first time.

“Playing alongside my Verblitz teammates and facing my old teammates on the same pitch where I trained for three years made me feel very nostalgic.”

The team dominated the opening stages, but midway through the match, they spent long periods under pressure as the opposition attacked deep into their territory.

“I told everyone, ‘Don't make it about individual play. Let's go back to the basics and fight.’ I think we played well. There was also a lot to learn.”

In his second season with the club, he looks set to demonstrate even greater leadership.

One of the standout performers in the backs was Winger Caston Michaels, who joined from Setsunan University. In the 34th minute of the first half, he caught a kick and returned it with a kick of his own to gain ground. After his teammates kept the move alive, he launched another short kick and followed it through to score the try himself.

“Speed is one of my strengths. I still need to learn more about off-the-ball movement.”

After the match, Caston also commented, “I studied at Setsunan University, so Japanese is fine.” He added, “I like the Kansai dialect, too.” The rookie is already setting his sights on making his League One debut.

Also present at the ground was Jake White, who served as Verblitz's head coach during the Top League era and was appointed head coach of the Fiji national team earlier this month. Fiji, who were staying in Urayasu ahead of their match against Japan the following day, gave White the opportunity to attend the Verblitz match.

White took charge of Verblitz in the 2017 season. Although only a few of the players he coached back then remained at the club, head coach Ian Foster invited White into the team's post-match huddle and introduced him to the current players, saying, “He is someone who helped build the legacy of Verblitz.”

It was a moment that truly captured the spirit of rugby.