Manie Libbok’s new club’s pitch is in a dire state

South African World Cup winner Manie Libbok’s new club Kintetsu Liners are in a race against time to fix their damaged pitch in time for the start of the new season in December.

Division two side Hanazono Kintetsu Liners play at Hanazono Rugby Stadium, a 27,000-capacity ground in Osaka which is known as the ‘home of rugby’ as it’s the oldest rugby stadium in Japan having opened in 1929.

The 2019 World Cup venue, which also hosts football games, was used last weekend for the Taiyo Life Women's Sevens Series (below) and players, fans and media alike were surprised by the appalling state of the pitch.  

World-class athletes including Brazil’s two-time Olympian Thalia Costa, who won tournament MVP for Pearls at the Osaka event, teammate and double World Cup-winning Black Fern Sarah Hirini and Canada’s three-time Olympian Charity Williams, who was playing for Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix, were among the stars on show.

There was reports of players getting sand in their eyes during the two-day tournament.

RugbyJP.com contacted Kintetsu Liners who said that the club does not own the stadium and they don't handle the maintenance of the ground.

“Currently, Hanazono Rugby Field is not owned by Kintetsu, it is owned by Higashi Osaka City and managed by HOS Co., Ltd,” a club spokesperson told RugbyJP.

“We find this situation regrettable and hope that the field will be properly maintained by the start of the League One season to prevent injuries."

The Liners will use the stadium during the new pre-season development tournament, League One Rising, when they host local rivals Red Hurricanes Osaka on Saturday 11 October.

New head coach Haruki Ota’s team will then host TJ Perenara’s Black Rams Tokyo in a one-off pre-season game at the ground on Saturday 15 November.

The promotion hopefuls will open their 2025-2026 League One season away at last season’s champions champions Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi.

Their first home game will be in round two against NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu on 20 December. 

Pictures courtesy of X user 'Hiropoooooh'