202008211AIRA has been doing its work supervised by the directors. Having taken over his predecessor of NEC Abiko Office, the new director Shintaro Fukushima visited AIRA’s office, accompanying two rugger men of NEC Green Rockets. (NO.20-5)

Time & Date： August 21st (Fri), 2020, 10:00~
Venue：Meeting Room No.1 of Abiko Civic Plaza
Visitors ： Mr. Shintaro Fukushima( Manager of General Affairs Department),
　　　　Mr. DOI Takahiro, Mr. Takumi Matsumura( Rugby players of NEC Green Rockets)
Host： AIRA President Yasuhiko Hesaki

NEC has been one of AIRA’s directors and a supporting member. NEC has been warmly supporting AIRA’s activities, including donating support goods of the Green Rockets for the lottery of the annual Abiko International Festival, which are very popular goods.

Mr. Takahiro Doi is well set up with 182 cm in height, 113kg in weight and plays as a prop(*1). The props are expected to have “strong202008212 muscle and heavy weight”. As he proudly says, “Bench-press record of mine marks 155kg”. He shows the fighting spirit of playing aggressively for his team.
202008213Mr. Takumi Matsumura plays as a flanker(*2). Flankers are expected to play at every scene of a game and to play with higher physical ability and larger amount of exercise in both the defense and the attack. (Leich Michael having played in the Rugby World Cup 2019 is a flanker.)

　(*1)Props: The props take an attack position at the front row in the scrum, where they play one of the most important role. If they are pushed out from the scrum, they can’t control the game for their team. Props play just like the craftsmen or specialists in the scrum. The props’ role is to tackle the props of the opponent team, heading on to push the opponent team out. In the maul, the props are expected to squeeze themselves into the opposition team to destroy them. The prop is the position which needs power more than anything.

　(*2)Flanker: The roles of flankers are to play in the scrum or the attacks (including the maul, ruck, breakdown, change down against pant kick etc.) to support their team or attack the opposition team. The flankers are expected to be the first players to arrive at a breakdown and play an important role in securing possession of the ball of their team. The flankers are expected to play boldly as tackle-men in the defense.

Following the World Cup in 2019, Rugby games have kept on gaining popularity. However, the top league was suspended in mid March for fear of spreading the coronavirus pandemic. Whether the top league for the coming year will be held or not is unforeseeable at the present, but the NEC team has been preparing for next year’s games. Under the Coronavirus pandemic, the two rugger men said, ”It is very hard to practice rugby which needs close physical contacts with players, so they have to consider how to practice effectively without having close physical contacts.”

The Green Rockets hired three foreign players who have experience in playing official games and one experienced foreign player for this season. The news members inspired all members to gear up their fighting spirit for next year’s championship.
Mr. Doi, Captain of the team said, “We want to make a good team which will give courage and sensation to our supporters even under the Coronavirus pandemic.” We are proud of our local team NEC Green Rockets and support them.Please give us courage and excitement, again!!


(Translated by Ms.Hitomi Koyama)