Hino Red Dolphins
# Hino Red Dolphins

Hino Motors Red Dolphins are a Japanese rugby union team, currently playing in the county's top tier Japan Rugby League One competition. The team is the rugby team of commercial vehicle manufacturer Hino Motors, based in Hino in the Tokyo Metropolis.

The team was founded in 1950, and spent their formative seasons playing in the Kanto League. They were promoted to the top division of the Top East League for the 2009 season, but were relegated in their first season. They bounced back at the first attempt, again winning promotion to the Top East League for the 2010 season. This time, they remained in that league until the 2017–18 season, when they won promotion to the newly formed Top Challenge League.

## Season history

Hino Red Dolphins' record in the top two tiers since their promotion to the Top East League in 2008 was:

| Hino Red Dolphins season history |
| - |
| Competition | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts | Pos | Notes |
| 2008 Top East League | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 129 | 525 | −396 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10th | Relegated to the Kanto League. |
| 2010 Top East League | 10 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 242 | 390 | −148 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 8th | |
| 2011 Top East League | 10 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 117 | 353 | −236 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 8th | |
| 2012 Top East League | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 138 | 350 | −212 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 9th | Survived relegation play-offs |
| 2013 Top East League | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 166 | 293 | −127 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 7th | |
| 2014 Top East League | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 301 | 154 | +147 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 4th | |
| 2015 Top East League | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 318 | 185 | +133 | 7 | 1 | 32 | 4th | |
| 2016 Top East League | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 420 | 107 | +313 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 2nd | |
| 2017 Top Challenge League | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 285 | 157 | +128 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 2nd | Promoted to the Top League. |
| Legend: P = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TB = Try bonus points, LB = Losing bonus points, Pts = Log points, Pos = Position. |

## Current squad

The Hino Red Dolphins squad for the 2023 season is:

| Hino Red Dolphins squad |
| - |
| Props Takuma Asahara Kaito Doichi Shosuke Funaki Yuichi Hisadomi Ryoyu Kato Kodai Ono Ken Osanai Yuto Tokuda Makoto Tsuchiya Dayan van der Westhuizen Taiga Yamaguchi Hookers Yuki Go Shunya Hamano Takeshi Kizu Towa Taniguchi Locks Akinori Hirota Yuta Kasahara Takehiro Kimura Sione Vuna Rory Arnold | Loose forwards Ryosuke Chifu Kyosuke Horie Shoei Ijima Lee Jun Ya Shun Nakashika Takehiro Nishimura Yūki Ono Ash Parker Syun Tomonaga Noah Tovio AJ Wolf Scrum-halves Kotaro Furukawa Norifumi Hashimoto Kotaro Hatada Augustine Pulu Motoki Tanaka Fly-halves Keita Doi Simon Hickey Riku Kitahara Shigenori Someyama Taroma Togo | Centres Ryuji Hirose Yuta Matsui Tonga Mosese Kuniya Sonoki Wingers Moeki Fukushi Taiki Kawai Ryo Kikkawa Ko Kojima Josefa Lilidamu Yuto Mizuma Chance Peni Sho Takenaka Fullbacks Shogo Tokota |
| (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped |
