The Winton lad's road to working with Toyota in Japan
“I just started at the bottom and thought I’d have a really good crack at it. I just worked my arse off and absolutely loved it.”
Jason Price takes a moment at times to reflect - and so he should.
He’s a lad from Winton now making his way in Japan working alongside one of world rugby’s most astute minds.
It isn’t lost on him. Price is grateful for where his journey has taken him.
The Southlander is Head of Performance at Toyota Verblitz which plays in Japan’s top-level domestic competition.
His boss is World Cup-winning All Black coach Steve Hansen, who is now Toyota Verblitz’s director of rugby.
After an off-season break at home in Southland, Price will on Saturday head back for a fourth season with the Toyota company. This coming season will include a couple of handy new faces at Toyota Verblitz in All Blacks Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett.
Price puts his journey down to a couple of simple things - hard work and building trust.
After leaving high school in Southland Price spent 10 years working with the Airforce as a physical instructor.
Throughout that time, he played club rugby in North Harbour and a bit in Marlborough.
“I played a little bit of representative for Marlborough, but I was never going to kick on, so I thought this might be a career path. I went back to uni and did a post-grad study.”
At the same time, Price met Mark Harvey who also had a military background with the Navy and also hailed from Southland. Mossburn in fact.
Harvey was the Blues’ Super Rugby head trainer at the time and asked if Price would help with the Blues in an unpaid role.
Price effectively joined as a 30-year-old intern. It was the role which for him opened doors.
“I just started at the bottom and thought I’d have a really good crack at it. I just worked my arse off and absolutely loved it.”
He was then asked by both the Auckland and North Harbour coaches if he would take on the strength and conditioning role with their teams for the National Provincial Championship.
He went with the Auckland job, and it doubled as an assistant role with the Blues.
“It was hard case, I still remember [Auckland coach] Wayne Pivic saying to me, ‘Pricey, when you want to go overseas no one will know about North Harbour, but they’ll know about Auckland’.
“He was really good to work with, him and Paul Feeny, Xavier Rush. I worked with some really good physios and doctors. Because I was pretty green in the game, I had a lot to learn at the time.
“I suppose the role in the Airforce was quite similar, you’re managing people, you’re managing personalities. The easy part is probably getting them fit, fast, and strong, the relationships and building trust is probably the biggest part of it.”
Two years later the then Blues coach Sir John Kirwan promoted Price to the top job for the Auckland-based Super Rugby organisation.
He was at the Blues for eight years all up before an opportunity come up with a club in Toyko as a strength and conditioning consultant.
He was about to sign a contract with that club before discussions with Toyota Verblitz were instigated in 2019.
It was actually in Invercargill where the seed was pretty much sewn.
Simon Cron was the forwards coach for the Waratahs at the time and he was about to take over as Toyota Verblitz’s coach.
Cron was in Invercargill with the Waratahs who were playing the Highlanders. The pair caught up for a “brew”.
“We were definitely quite aligned with the way we saw things. Between him and [Steve Hansen] they then gave me a ring and I flew up to Auckland and had a meeting and signed.”
It turned out to be about another nine months before Price got to Japan because it was during Covid and he couldn’t get a visa.
But he’s now heading into his fourth season and loves the job.
He’s not the only Southlander who has made his way in a similar role in Japan.
Simon Jones was Japan’s strength and conditioning coach at the last World Cup, while Kark McDonald is the Japan national team’s physiotherapist.
“I’m very grateful for the position I’m in. Me and Karl McDonald catch up a bit and we joke about a couple of lads from Southland getting it done.
“I’m pretty humble about the whole thing and just work my arse off every day to get ahead.”
Given the Japanese season doesn’t start until December it provides a lengthy lead-in time for Price to help get the team physically ready.
“You get a really good preseason period of 10 to 12 weeks… If you can’t get them fit and ready to rock ‘n roll in that time you shouldn’t be in the job.”
Price initially thought the language barrier may be a bigger hurdle than it has turned out to be.
“We’ve got three really good translators and you would barely know you’ve got them they are that good.
“They’ve also had english speaking coaches for the last decade so a lot of them can understand a bit of english. I don’t find it an issue.”
“From a coaching perspective it does help your coaching. Because you do need to simplify things and be really clear.”
Price has three staff and a nutritionist, and they work alongside a medical team which includes four physios and two doctors.
“I suppose we look after the health and well-being of the team and make sure the guys are fit and healthy. It’s a bit cliche, but the most important ability is availability.
“If they are not available on Saturday it doesn’t matter how much they are bench pressing or how much in the squat rack.”
Price’s job at Toyota Verblitz has this year led to a unique partnership with Southland rugby.
Four Toyota Verblitz players lined up for the Pirates-Old Boys club in Invercargill during the Southland club season with three staying on to train with the Stags in the lead up to the NPC season.
Price’s good mate Ben McHugh coaches at Pirates-Old Boys.
Given the Japanese off-season is about three- or four-months Price said he and Hansen started talking about how good it would be to get some players playing club rugby in New Zealand, as part of their development.
On top of the long off-season, Toyota Verblitz carries a squad of 55 players meaning some players needed game time.
“Steve said, ‘could you take a few home with you?’ and I said I could probably call in a few favours.
“Within five minutes of calling Ben McHugh we pretty much had it all lined up.”
Price has overseen what the players have been up to during their stay in Southland and ended up helping Pirates-Old Boys in a coaching capacity as a result.
He said the initiative has been a success.
“We’ve seen massive growth in their rugby, but also growth as people.
“The Pirates-Old Boys boys had them out surfing and hunting and all sorts. It is just something they wouldn’t have a chance to do in Japan.
“Relationship-wise, all three lads contributed to Pirates-Old Boys winning the Galbraith Shield which is nice and given they are part of the NPC group at the moment shows they’ve had a real positive effect.”
“I know Toyota is very happy with how it has gone.”
Price is confident the partnership can develop further and there could be further benefits for Southland rugby down the track.
He said there was an offer for Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders to visit Toyota Verblitz in November to spend and week or two learning from the likes of Hansen.
“It’s a chance to spend some time with Steve and other coaches to learn about how we do things and share ideas.
“It’s above my pay grade but he and Steve may then look at next season and maybe we’ll look at this position or that position.
“We are pretty open to the players we can send down here.”
Toyota Verblitz narrowly missed the playoffs during the 2022-2023 season but Price was hopeful of a good showing in 2023-2024.
Great content Sav! A real story about how it doesn’t matter who you are, hard work and dedication can get you places!