Japanese halfback may get NPC cap with Southland Stags
Liam Howley has suffered a likely season injury which may open the door for a Southland Stags callup for Japanese halfback Kaisei Tamura.
Japanese halfback Kaisei Tamura is in line for a potential National Provincial Championship debut in Invercargill on Sunday.
Tamura was one of four Toyota Verbliz players who joined the Pirates-Old Boys club in Invercargill in May.
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is Toyota Verblitz’s director of rugby and with Toyota missing the Japanese playoffs he was keen for some players to step outside their comfort zone and get some more game time in a different environment.
Toyota Verblitz’s head of performance Jason Price is a Southlander and is good mates with Pirates-Old Boys coach Ben McHugh, hence the unique partnership.
Tamura, prop Shunsuke Asaoka, and Rintaro Muriyama all helped Pirates-Old Boys to a Galbraith Shield title in July.
The trio of Toyota Verblitz players have stayed on in Southland to provide cover as part of the Stags setup.
Tamura is now in the running to be included in the Stags 23 for its next outing against Northland at Rugby Park in Invercargill on Sunday.
It comes with Stags halfbacks Jahvis Wallace and Liam Howley both on the injured list.
Wallace broke his hand playing for the Eastern-Northern Barbarians in the Galbraith Shield final, while Howley looks set to miss the remainder of the NPC season.
Howley tore his bicep when he came off the bench in the second half of the Stags’ 29-21 loss to Waikato on Sunday.
Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders confirmed the injury was likely to be season-ending for Howley.
It means Jay Renton is likely to start again against Northland on Sunday with Tamuru expected to come off the bench.
Hooker Jacob Payne was another to leave the field with a serious-looking knee injury in the first half against Waikato.
Although Saunders was unsure at this point what that would mean in terms of a potential injury layoff.
“He’s got to have some scans this week. It could be anywhere from two weeks to the season so don’t really know with him yet.”
First five-eighth Dan Hollinshead also has a quad strain at the moment.
The experienced off-season signing would probably have started against Waikato before picking up an injury.
It meant Greg Dyer started in the No 10 jersey and Marty Banks came off the bench in his return to rugby following a lengthy injury layoff.