ru_clubcaps ru_proclubs ru_nationalcaps birth_date ru_nationalyears university ru_nationalteam image_size ru_nationalpoints image school ru_position caption height ru_sevensnationalteam ru_clubpoints ru_clubyears weight ru_clubupdate article_title
120 14 toyota verblitz saracens canon eagles 66 24 february 1980 2005-2013 osaka university of health and sport sciences japan 270px -lrb- 155 -rrb- file : kikutani press conference rwc 2011.jpg imperial palace technical high school flanker , number 8 , lock kikutani world cup at a press conference during the 2011 rugby 187 cm ftin on japan -lrb- 240 -rrb- -lrb- 10 -rrb- 2004 − 13 2013 − 14 2014 − 106 kg stlb on 19 january 2015 takashi kikutani

takashi kikutani

kikutani first played for the japan 7 's team in 1999 and represented them at the 2005 rugby world cup sevens before making his debut for in november 2005 against where he scored a try .
he established himself in the side through 2006 but was ruled out of the 2007 rugby world cup with a knee injury .
after recovering from injury , he returned to the side and took over takuro miuchi as captain in november 2008 by coach john kirwan and remained the japan captain until the end 2011 rugby world cup .
after that tournament which was a disappointing one for japan who failed to win a game , he was replaced as captain by toshiaki hirose and left out the squad altogether by new coach eddie jones .
he soon returned for the 2012 pacific nations cup , and has re-established himself as a key member of the japan squad and as vice captain to hirose .
he was singled out by jones as one of the few japanese players who has the attitude and physicality to be able to `` smash '' players .
kikutani is the second highest try scorer of all time by a forward with 31 tries , only diego ormaechea of has scored more .
at domestic level , kikutani has played all his career with toyota verblitz playing over 100 matches for them .
he has twice been named in top league team of the season in 2009/10 and 2012/13 .
on 11 december 2013 , kikutani will officially leave toyota verblitz in japan to join overseas in england with saracens in the aviva premiership .
