The Rugby Star

The Rugby Star 1976

10 1

The success of Truck Yaro (1975-1979) initiated a whole load of movies that put "Yaro" in their title, including this semi-bonkers sports comedy/drama. Sonny Chiba's brother Jiro Chiba stars as a Rugby player whose team must find a way to beat the opponent. It's a standard storyline without any major surprises, but works surprisingly well. Training scenes are relatively nuts; much better than the actual matches actually, which tend to go on forever. There is no sex, nudity or graphic violence, making this a family friendly affair. Sonny Chiba appears for about 7 minutes during the last third as a truck driver who comes to Jiro's rescue.

  • Released: 1976-05-15
  • Runtime: 88 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Comedy
  • Stars: Gō Ibuki, Koji Nanjo, Yōko Koizumi, Akane Kawasaki, Sonny Chiba, Seizō Fukumoto, Jirô Chiba, Rinichi Yamamoto, Masataka Iwao, Shiro Kishibe
  • Director: Akira Shimizu