(born 21 January 1986 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan) is a Japanese

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. His preferred position is

hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

although he can also play in the back row. He represents Japan at the international level. He has played for the

Panasonic Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

in the domestic Japanese Top League competition, and in 2013 began playing Super Rugby with the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

in Australia, but has since gone back to Japan to play for the Sunwolves.

Japan

Horie made his debut for Japan in 2009, and represented his country at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

Early years

Horie is a native of Osaka Prefecture. He began playing rugby when he was a fifth-grade student, and later captained the

Teikyo University is a private university headquartered in the Itabashi ward of Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1931 as Teikyo Commercial High School (帝京商業高等学校). It became Teikyo University in 1966. It is part of Teikyo Group, a multinational ...

rugby team.

Top League

Horie played for the

. He was named MVP for the 2015–16 Top League Season.

Super Rugby

In 2012, Horie played for Japan, and in New Zealand for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, ...

, where he attracted the attention of the

recruiting staff. In November 2012, the Rebels announced Horie's signing to play

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

in Australia. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

he became the first Japanese player to play for an Australian Super Rugby side often on the reserves bench.

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

Shota Horie Player Profile
Melbourne Rebels

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horie, Shota 1986 births Japanese rugby union players Living people Japan international rugby union players Saitama Wild Knights players Otago rugby union players Melbourne Rebels players Rugby union hookers Sportspeople from Osaka Prefecture People from Suita Japanese expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in Australia Japanese expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Australia Sunwolves players