Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament Explained

The Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament is an international rugby union tournament for 15-a-side youth teams which is held every year during the Golden Week holidays (29 April – 5/6 May) in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. Participation is by invitation only, and the overseas schools selected by their respective unions to represent their country are generally expected to be of a high standard and among the top five in each country. The event is hosted by the Japan Rugby Football Union and supported by various local bodies including the Kyushu RFU, the Sanix Sports Foundation and Munakata City. The Global Arena in Munakata, Fukuoka on the island of Kyūshū is the venue for this tournament.

History

In 2000 the first tournament was contested by 11 Japanese and five foreign high school teams from various countries. (The tournament expanded from 16 to 20 schools in 2009, thus increasing in both size and importance.) It is a unique competition in world rugby for high schools, and is almost a "mini World Cup". The idea was devised and initially funded by the Sanix company president Mr. Munemasa. Sanix still provides about half the substantial costs for overseas teams to participate.

Three or four of the Japanese teams are from the local area Kyūshū, where high school rugby is particularly strong. The rest are from elsewhere in Japan. A Scottish pipe band is a regular fixture, though there was no band in 2007. However Dollar Academy has participated twice as Scotland's sole representative so far in the tournament in 2000 and 2004, and George Watson's College Pipe Band, Edinburgh have played both the opening and closing ceremonies from 2008 to date. One Italian team (Istituto Casteller) took part in 2002, and Carmarthenshire College from Wales has also participated.

In 2014 the tournament debuted a girls' rugby sevens tournament to run parallel to the boys' competition. The debut girls' tournament was won by a Kanto regional selection team, and the most recent champions are St Mary's College, Wellington who won the 2017 tournament.

Competing nations

As of 2018 a total of 20 countries have participated in at least one edition of the Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament, with many countries being represented annually. Nations who have competed in the tournament are as follows:

Champions

Boys' competition

Year	of Teams		Final				Losing semi-finalists
		width=15%	Winner	width=8%	Score	width=15%	Runner-up	width=15%	Third place	width=15%	Fourth place
2000	16	The King's School	28–5	Paul Roos Gymnasium	Aranui High School	Dollar Academy
2001	24	Grey College	align=center	-	St Peter's College	Higashi Fukuoka High School	St Mary's College
2002	16		32–10	Sendai Ikuei Gakuen H.S.	Ratu Kadavulevu School	Wesley College
2003	16	Rotorua Boys' High School	align=center	-	Tonga College	St Alban's College	Royal Belfast Academical
2004	16	Rotorua Boys' High School	36–18	Higashi Fukuoka High School	Ermelo High School	St Stanislaus' College
2005	16	Christchurch Boys' H.S.	32–8	The Southport School	Hoërskool Waterkloof	Osaka Institute Technology
2006	16	Christchurch Boys' H.S.	34–20	Monument High School	Tokai Uni. Gyosei H.S.	Higashi Fukuoka High School
2007	16	Westfields Sports H.S.	align=center	-	Higashi Fukuoka High School	Christchurch Boys' H.S.	Avele College
2008	16	Glenwood High School	39–0	Tarbes High School	Gisborne Boys' H.S.	St Edmund's College
2009	20	Dax Landes High School	38–30	Higashi Fukuoka High School	Glenwood High School	De La Salle College
2010	16	Hamilton Boys' H.S.	40–8	Truro College	The Hills Sports H.S.	Marais Viljoen High School
2011	16	Hamilton Boys' H.S.	35–17	Ivybridge Community College	Paarl Boys' High School	Toin Gakuen H.S.
2012	16	Kelston Boys' High School	37–24	Truro College	Tonga College	Tokai Uni. Gyosei H.S.
2013	16	St Kentigern College	40–8	Hartpury College	St Joseph's College	Daniel Pienaar Technical H.S.
2014	16	Hamilton Boys' H.S.	15–11	Paarl Boys' High School	Lycée Louis de Foix	Tokai Uni. Gyosei H.S.
2015	align=center	16	Paul Roos Gymnasium	align=center	35–3	Brisbane Boys' College	Scots College	Truro College
2016	align=center	16	Glenwood High School	align=center	45–6	Higashi Fukuoka High School	Rotorua Boys' High School	Truro College
2017	align=center	16	Lycée de la Borde Basse	align=center	9–3	Mt Albert Grammar School	Higashi Fukuoka High School	Toin Gakuen H.S.
2018	align=center	16	Ratu Kadavulevu School	align=center	35–5	Hastings Boys' H.S.	St Augustine's College	Osaka Toin High School
2019	align=center	16	Paul Roos Gymnasium	align=center	52–5	St Peters College	Toin Gakuen H.S.	Waverley College

Schools with multiple appearances

In the table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Seasons" column, bold years indicate winning seasons.

Appearances	School	Seasons
8		2004, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
6		2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
4		2010, 2012, 2015, 2016
4		2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
3		'2009, 2010, 2011, 2014
3		2000, 2015, 2019
3		2003, 2004, 2016
3		2008, 2009, 2016
3		2017, 2018, 2019
3		2017, 2018, 2019
2		2005, 2006
2		2015, 2018
2		2015, 2019
2		2015, 2019
2		2017, 2018
2		2017, 2018
2		2017, 2018
2		2018, 2019

Girls' sevens competition

Year	of Teams		Final				Losing semi-finalists
		width=15%	Winner	width=8%	Score	width=15%	Runner-up	width=15%	Third place	width=15%	Fourth place
2014	8	Kanto Selection	35–21	Sunshine Coast Stingrays	Fukuoka Ladies' R.F.C.	Feilding High School
2015	8	Hamilton Girls' H.S.	31–12	Fukuoka Ladies' R.F.C.	Iwami Chisuikan H.S.	Hong Kong Sports School
2016	8	Otemon Gakuen H.S.	38–5	Tochigi Strawberries	Hamilton Girls' High School	Fukuoka Ladies' R.F.C.
2017	8	St Mary's College	26–22	Kokugakuen Uni. Tochigi H.S.	Hartpury College	Aranmore Catholic College
2018	8	Iwami Chisuikan H.S.	17–10	Hamilton Girls' H.S.	Otemon Gakuen H.S.	Fukuoka Ladies R.F.C.

See also

• Fukuoka Sanix Blues
• Rugby union in Japan
• National High School Rugby Tournament
• The National Schools 7's

External links

• Tournament Official Website (English) with downloadable pdfs of results
• Invitation on Australian Schools rugby website
• RKS (Fiji) at the 2002 tournament
• 2007 Sanix World Youth TournamentWebsite (from the JRFU, in Japanese)
• Sanix World Youth Tournament – Map To The Global Arena (in Japanese)
• Global Arena (in Japanese)