Japanese International Team Travels to Iffley Road
- Grace Gibson
- Mar 10
- 3 min read
With another season drawing to a close following the Varsity Matches last weekend, there is one final run out for the Men*s Dark Blues this week. On Thursday at 7:15pm, the Boys in Blue will take on an international side for the first time this season, facing a Japan U19 team. This game was facilitated by Blue #907, Mark Egan, who captained in 1990 when earning his third Blue, and is now on the board of the Japanese RFU. I was lucky enough to speak to Egan a few weeks ago, when we discussed the history surrounding this tour as well as his personal association with both clubs.
Egan moved to England to study at Oxford after graduating from Trinity College Dublin, the latest in a long line of Irish players who had trodden the same path. He was Brendan Mullin’s (#896) direct successor, the latter having played in 1986 and 1987 to Egan’s 1988, 1989, and 1990 Blues. This legacy was realised in 1987, when TCD toured against Oxford and Cambridge. Egan remembers arriving in Oxford and the team being invited out for dinner the night before the game. Inevitably, “curry and a pint” turned into going out on the town, and it took a while for the Irish boys to realise that their Oxford counterparts had silently slipped off to get some rest. Undoubtedly, this sly behaviour contributed to the TCD loss the next day, though Egan played well enough for a conversation with then-captain, Rupert Vesey, which turned into the offer of a Major Stanley’s scholarship.
When he arrived in Oxford in September of 1988 for preseason, Egan was introduced to his new scrum half: David Kirk, who joined the team fresh from captaining New Zealand to a victory in the first Rugby World Cup the year before. The team trained together for four days before flying to Japan to kick their season off with a tour. Egan had visited Japan the year before with the Irish Universities team but felt the experience of touring with Oxford was closer to that of a test team. They had two weeks of beautiful weather and playing the top Japanese universities, such a brilliant trip that Egan decided to return in 1990 for the preseason tour he was leading as captain. His enduring impression of Japan was their “very strong values and sportsmanship”, creating a culture which valued respect, discipline, teamwork, and courage above all else.
The link with OURFC is clear in the importance of tradition and this environment was tempting enough that Egan ended up staying longer term. After winning the 1990 Varsity Match, he returned to play and work for Kobe Steel. He had originally intended to move to London, where he could play for London Irish and work for Unilever, but the opportunity to return to Japan couldn’t be passed up, and he moved there with his then-fiancé in 1991. They planned to stay for two years, but were again charmed into staying longer, eventually leaving after six years, a daughter, and the 1995 earthquake.
Egan’s next job moved him into the world of rugby governance as he joined World Rugby, maintaining a link with Japan as he coordinated with JRFU among other international organisations. In 2020, he took up a post on the Japanese RFU after the Tokyo Olympics and now assists with finding opponents and fixtures. This role (and Thursday’s match) has established yet more of a link between Japanese and Oxbridge rugby, dating from a Cambridge professor introducing rugby to Japan through to Oxford being the first team to tour to Japan after the Second World War in 1952. This collaboration with English universities reinforces the importance of student rugby, a culture which is a major contributor to the Japanese professional game. The pathway from school to university to pro is strengthened by the standard at each level, something made possible by tours and collaborations with places like Oxford. Touring to a historical university and team is therefore an appeal to rising stars of the game and we hope to see some of the names on Thursday’s programme hitting the biggest stages in years to come.
OURFC is proud to host an international team of such calibre and of the legacies established and maintained by previous Blues like Mark. We hope to see much of the OURFC community in the stands on Thursday evening, supporting and honouring the 2025 Dark Blues as well as the relationship we have with Japanese rugby. Tickets are available here.
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