The Ganbatte Trophy was a silver cup presented to the winner of any rugby union match between the Melbourne Rebels team from Australia and the Sunwolves team from Japan. The word Ganbatte (, "Do your best") is often used as an exhortation at Japanese sporting events meaning to "Go for it!" or to strive.

History The Melbourne Rebels recruited Japanese international players Shota Horie in 2013, followed by Keita Inagaki, Male Sau, and Kotaro Matsushima. The club was the first in Australia to launch a website in the Japanese language. In 2016, following the introduction of the Sunwolves team to the Super Rugby competition, the Ganbatte Trophy was inaugurated to mark the relationship between the Rebels and Japanese rugby.17 March 2011 Rebels And Sunwolves Unveil Ganbatte Trophy （Official Website of Melbourne Rebels, 18 March 2016 Retrieved 20 March 2016）Ganbatte Trophy 創設 （Official Website of Sunwolves, 18 March 2016 Retrieved 20 March 2016） The Rebels won the trophy on 5 of the 6 occasions the trophy was contested, with the Sunwolves solitary win coming in February 2020. The 7th and final contesting of the trophy scheduled for March 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Sunwolves being disbanded in June 2020 following the cancellation of the 2020 Super Rugby season.

Results Overview Details Played Won byRebels Won bySunwolves Drawn Rebels points Sunwolves points In Australia 2 2 0 0 82 28 In Japan 4 3 1 0 151 69 Overall 6 5 1 0 233 97

List (Brackets) denotes total matches the shield was held. No. Season Date Venue Score Winner Attendance 1 2016 19 March Chichibunomiya Stadium, Aoyama, Tokyo9–35 Melbourne Rebels (1) 16,444 2 2018 3 March Chichibunomiya Stadium, Aoyama, Tokyo17–37 Melbourne Rebels (2) 11,181 3 25 May Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Olympic Park, Victoria40–13 Melbourne Rebels (3) 7,853 4 2019 6 April Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Olympic Park, Victoria42–15 Melbourne Rebels (4) 5 25 May Chichibunomiya Stadium, Aoyama, Tokyo7–52 Melbourne Rebels (5) 6 2020 1 February Level-5 Stadium, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka36–27 Sunwolves (1) 10,426 20 March Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Olympic Park, Victoria colspan=4

See also

Super Rugby Melbourne Rebels Sunwolves Rugby union trophies and awards

References

External links Official Website of Melbourne Rebels Official Website of Sunwolves Photo of the Ganbette Trophy from twitter.com