Eiji Kutsuki

Eiji Kutsuki

Date of birth	(1962-12-25) December 25, 1962
Place of birth	Fukui Prefecture, Japan
School	Wakasa Agricultural High School
University	Nippon Sport Science University
Notable relative(s)	Yasuhiro Kutsuki (younger brother) Masafumi Kutsuki (younger brother)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1978-1981 Wakasa Agricultural High School () 1981-1985 Nippon Sports Science University () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1985-1996 Toyota () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1985-1994 Japan 30 (39) Coaching career Years Team 2003-2007 Toyota Verblitz

Eiji Kutsuki (朽木英次, Kutsuki Eiji) (born Fukui 25 December 1962) is a former Japanese rugby union player and coach. He played as a centre. His younger brothers Yasuhiro and Masafumi were former rugby union players.

Biography

He attended Wakasa Agricultural High School (currently, Wakasa Higashi High School), he graduated from Nippon Sport Science University. After that, he joined Toyota. In 1985 and 1986, at the National Conference Tournament, with Toyota, he won the 1986 Japan Rugby Football Championship title.

International career

His debut with the Japan national team was on 19 October 1985, against France, at Dax. Since then, for a long time in combination with Seiji Hirao, Kutsuki made his place as right centre immovable, earning in total 30 caps.

In the Rugby World Cup, Kutsuki took part in all six matches in the first round of the 1987 Rugby World Cup and in the 1991 Rugby World Cup, including the match where Japan defeated Zimbabwe.

Coaching career

After retiring, Kutsuki took over as manager of Toyota Verblitz. However, in the second round of 2005 season of the Japanese championship, due to suffering a bitter experience against Waseda University, Kutsuki ended to sign his unofficial resignation. Eventually he retired from the coach position in 2007. Afterwards, he served as director.

External links

• Eiji Kutsuki at ESPNscrum