Hero photograph
 
Photo by Mr Mark Ealey

2019 International Rugby Programme (IRP)

Mr Mark Ealey —

17th Intake arrives on 24 March 2019

The St Bede’s College International Rugby Programme is unique in what it has brought to the rugby and education sector of the international student market. Long before other schools in New Zealand established genuine and ongoing ties with rugby-playing high schools in Japan, St Bede’s College had built a sister-school relationship first with Catholic school Keiko Gakuen HS in Hirakata City (Osaka), and then with their arch rivals Higashi Fukuoka HS in Kyushu. These two schools dominated Japanese high school rugby for a decade from around 2002. These two relationships were followed by another with Sapporo Yamanote HS, where Japan’s captain Michael Leitch went from St Bede’s College as a student in 2004.

The forerunner to the IRP, the ESOL Rugby Programme, commenced in 2003, but before for the two years prior to that, two players per season had come from Keiko Gakuen to play in our 1st XV. The first two lads, Yoshinori Sogabe and Daisuke Mitsui, debuted against Christ’s College on Upper, with first-five Yoshinori scoring a 40-metre solo try with his first touch of the ball. The following year prop Yuuki Mori and scrumhalf Takashi Sakuma also performed admirably in the 1st XV.

In 2003, the ESOL Rugby Programme commenced, making the 2019 intake the seventeenth, with a total of around 300 old boys and old girls having gone through the Programme. Following the earthquake in 2011, with constrictions in boarding capacity, the IRP boys stayed in off-site accommodation for three years, which brought many challenges, but in 2014 moved its base of operations to Burnside HS, where it developed dramatically in terms of content over the five years from 2014 to 2018. In 2019 the IRP “returns home” to St Bede’s College, something that our IRP old boys all over the world are very pleased to hear.

In terms of origin, most of our IRP alumni are from Japan, with seven old boys (Yoshinori Sogabe, Masakazu Toyota, Ryuhei Arita, Yoshikazu Fujita, Shunsuke Nunomaki, Shinosuke Kakinaga, and Hiroki Yamamoto) having been capped for Japan. The current Japanese women’s 15-a-side team’s captain Seina Saito is an IRP old girl and the JRFU 2017 Player of the Year (chosen from male and female players) Moi Tsukui, was in the IRP that season before bursting on the Japanese national scene. The three Muniafu brothers from Kenya included current international lock Simon who played in our U16s under Dave Litten. In 2010, outstanding English loose-forward Carl Jeffs became the first IRP player to captain the 1st XV. We have two Portuguese internationals from our 2011 1st XV. Welsh international Josh Navidi, who stood out against the All Blacks in November 2017, was a star on our 2008 1st XV. 2nd XV No. 8 Alejandro Nieto-Serra has captained Uruguay. 2004 3rd XV centre Sylvester Ellekær Michaelsen was capped for Denmark. Botswanan international Segopotso Dintwe is now playing in Scotland and Cameroonian international Serge Yakan-a-Bessong is still playing in France. Other countries beyond these that have been represented through the years are Italy, Argentina, South Africa, Russia, Chile, Brazil, the United States, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Catalonia (Ariol did not want to be referred to as Spanish), Korea, Germany and the Czech Republic.

As the Programme has developed it has focused increasingly on the holistic aspects of developing as a player, as well as the importance of the five Core Principles espoused by World Rugby: Integrity, Respect, Passion, Solidarity and Discipline. The IRP offers an incredible opportunity for young men and women to move out of their comfort zone but into a warm, safe and welcoming environment.

This year, there are players from Japan, Argentina, Italy, UAE, and Chile. I hope that the Bedean community can once again embrace these brave young people as they test themselves in the best rugby environment in the world.

Mark Ealey
Director
International Rugby Programme