Date of birth | 16 November 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mana Furuta (古田真菜 born 16 November 1997) is a Japanese rugby union and sevens player. She plays centre for the Japan women's national rugby union team.[1] She competed for Japan at the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
Furuta is a native of Fukuoka Prefecture and her father also played rugby.[2]
Furuta debuted for Japan at the age of 18 during the 2016 Asia Rugby Championship.[3] She missed the 2017 Rugby World Cup, but returned to the team in 2019.[3]
In November 2021, she was part of the team that was announced for the end-of-year tour of Europe, where she scored her first test try in her sides narrow defeat to Ireland.[3]
In 2020, she began her professional career playing for Arukas Queen Kumagaya's sevens team.[2] She then joined Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix in 2021 and was on loan to the Brumbies Women in 2022.[2][3][4] She was chosen by her teammates for the Helen Taylor Award after an outstanding season for the Brumbies.[5][6]
Furuta featured for Japan at the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup that was held in New Zealand.[7][8]
Furuta was named in the Sakura XV's side for the Asia Rugby Women's Championship in May.[9] She was a member of the team that narrowly beat Italy for the first time in September.[10][11] In October, she was selected for the side for the inaugural WXV 2 in South Africa.[12][13]