Italy’s Stephen Varney open to future move to Japan Rugby League One

Italy scrum-half Stephen Varney said it would be a great honour to play his club rugby in Japan one day after playing at a sold out Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in his country’s Nations Championship loss in Tokyo.

Carmarthen-born Varney, 25, a fluent Welsh speaker who qualifies for the Six Nations side through his Italian mother, played 60 minutes in Gli Azzurri’s 27-10 defeat as they were overpowered and and outplayed by their impressive hosts.

The former Gloucester number nine, a PREM Rugby runner-up with Exeter Chiefs in June, was disappointed with Italy’s below-par performance in front of the 21,320-strong crowd.

“I was very frustrated with the game, we lacked physicality and accuracy all through the game,” the ex-Vannes scrum-half told RugbyJP.com.

“Credit to Japan, they played with speed and accuracy but also they were more physical than us,” added Varney who has won 38 caps since making his Test debut in 2020.

© JRFU

Despite being outplayed by the Brave Blossoms in the opening round of the inaugural Nations Championship, Varney valued the experience of playing in front of an ‘amazing’ crowd and can see why Japan's star-studded club competition League One is attracting some of the sport's biggest names. “It was a cool atmosphere and the fans were amazing,” he told RugbyJP.com.

“I love visiting Japan, the people are very polite and respectful. The Japan league looks like it’s on the up and the club teams play a very exciting brand of rugby.

"The likes of Aaron Smith and Faf de Klerk playing in Japan (recently) just shows that it's a great place to come and play.”

Varney, who signed a new contract with Exeter in December, admitted that he could be tempted by an offer to play in Japan’s ever-improving League One competition in the future.

“For sure, one day it would be a great honour to play out here in Japan.”

Italy, who have lost all 17 of their previous encounters with New Zealand, now face a daunting assignment against Dave Rennie’s All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.

The 'Rennie era' opened with a narrow 34-32 win against France in a thrilling contest in Christchurch.

Looking ahead to the round two fixture, Varney stressed the need to rest, recover and to put their takeaways from the Japan game into practice against New Zealand.

“Recovery will be very important to get the body right for a big test match. It’s important for us to review the game and learn as quickly as possible and move on to the All Blacks game.” Stay tuned to RugbyJP.com for on-site Nations Championship coverage