Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix Coaches – Rhodes Lea & Aimee-Leigh Campbell

In recent interviews, we have heard from several players, as well as the CEO of Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix, but this time we sat down with two of the coaches – Rhodes Lea is a strength and conditioning (S&C) coach from Australia, and Aimee-Leigh Campbell is a Physiotherapist from South Africa and both are in their first full year with the club.

Rhodes has worked with teams like Vikings Rugby in Tuggeranong, ACT, and the Brumbies Rugby Academy and joined the Japanese women’s club Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix at the start of last season. Aimee-Leigh Campbell is a Physiotherapist with a special interest in sports physiotherapy and sports-specific rehabilitation from South Africa, and joined the Phoenix around the same time as Rhodes.

We spoke with both about their experiences with the 15s 2025 Championship-winning club in Japan, preparations for the 7s season and what they have learned so far from working in a different culture and environment.

Rhodes Lea & Aimee-Leigh Campbell – Roles and Experiences with Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

“I studied and have worked in Cape Town in South Africa, and did my postgraduate in sports, and then women’s health. I have a background in playing sports, and I think I always wanted to stay in some sporting aspect, and rugby is one of the biggest sports in my country, so I was involved in that and some other sports.

As you meet people in this industry, I was told about this role with the Phoenix in January of 2024, and I thought it would be a good idea to come to Japan for a new experience. I also wanted to see what information I could learn here in case I want to go back home to South Africa,” explained Aimee-Leigh Campbell.

Sitting next to her, Rhodes said of his pathway to the Phoenix, “I probably had a typical S&C pathway of a failed athlete, but I still wanted to work in sport. I went to university to study Sport and Exercise Science and worked for a club in Canberra. Full-time S&C gigs are pretty hard to crack, so I was pretty lucky to get this job, especially getting to move overseas was a lucky perk on top of that as well. It has been the right place and at the right time for me.”

We asked them both if they knew much about the Phoenix before they took on the opportunity, or about Japanese women’s rugby before they arrived and what they are doing at the club.

Aimee-Leigh told us, “I didn’t know about Tokyo Phoenix, per se, but I think Japanese rugby is always exciting, because I think they get better every year – both the men’s and the women’s game. When the opportunity came about, I did some research on the club and Tokyo, and I thought to myself, ‘Yes, please!’ It has been exciting to see how they keep growing and promoting the women’s game, which is exciting for me, as a female. I think the men get a lot of opportunities, but the women are kind of, globally, passed on, so it’s been nice to see that Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix is actually making them a priority.”

Of her role at Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix, she added, “I’m the head of the medical team now, and I oversee a bit of everything, but it includes the players rehab programs to making sure that the on-field stuff is taken care of, but also behind the scenes I am involved in the education for the players to help them look after themselves. Ultimately, I can’t be with them forever or every single day of their life.”

Rhodes Lea – Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix S&C Coach

Rhodes also said he did not know much about the club before he looked at joining. “Although I played rugby growing up, I didn’t ever watch that much rugby, even Australian Rugby. The girls here know far more about Australian rugby than I’ve ever known!

Once I found out about the club, I started to watch a bit more of their games online. There are some very well-known players playing in Japan, such as Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, this past 15s season, and more are coming over to play here. I think it’s probably on the cusp of going big time, and the Japanese are also amazing at supporting their own. I’ve never seen women’s rugby supported like it is in Japan, which is pretty awesome. 

In terms of what I do day-to-day, it’s pretty much all the training outside of rugby-specific training I take care of, such as their gym work, their speed work, their conditioning work, their load management, etc. At the club, we have our own gym setup, and the players have private access to the gym facility, physiotherapy room, changing rooms, and so on, as well as field access. 

For anyone who’s been in Japan, fields are really hard to come by. In Australia, for example, fields are everywhere and are really accessible to the public. In Japan, it is not like that. So we use and share the Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks training field (a JRLO Division 2 club), and aside from the clubhouse and gym, we get pretty much full access to the field, training gear, so we’re pretty lucky. 

It’s really not that far off from what a men’s professional side has access to, and we might lack a little bit of size in terms of our gym, but we have everything you need.”

Main Takeaways From a Championship-Winning Season

Rhodes said his biggest takeaway was the resiliency of this team. “We had a complete staff clear-out at the end of the last season. I think the only person we retained was the CEO, which is pretty tough, particularly on a women’s team at a semi-professional level. They managed to push through it and take the title again despite all of the changes!

I think whenever you have a change in staff, and you come into the environment off the back of being a premiership-winning team, it’s pretty hard to come in and take that role on and try to repeat that success. There is the expectation that you need to win it again. So it was a huge relief, even if I expected that we could win. It was a pretty awesome moment for me as it was my first Premiership win in a coaching position.”

Aimee-Leigh added, “From a medical point of view, because I see the players when they are not on the field too, it was a proud moment to see how many players we could get to the end and feeling strong. A few of them had been on the sidelines due to injury, but by the time of the final, we had players back on the field and lifting that trophy. So yeah, it was a proud moment to be in your first year in a new country with a new club, and you end up winning like that – I don’t think it can get better than that.”

Aimee-Leigh added that the level of respect at the club and in Japan was also a big takeaway. “The level of respect that they have, and they really are willing to listen to you, even if they don’t necessarily understand it in the beginning, they are at least available to try and to learn new things. That has made me more open to learning about other things too, and if I go back to South Africa, I will have learned there’s always a better way to do something.”

It’s a Juggling Act – 15s, 7s, & National Team Duties

As we have reported previously, the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix club plays in both Japanese domestic 7s and 15s seasons, and has a number of Japanese selected players in the Sakura 7s and 15s squads, as well as players competing in Australia and France in 2025.

Aimee explained that it is a “difficult juggling act with everyone’s schedules, the club schedule, and the different goals for what they are all trying to achieve. I think you focus on your core team and take others into consideration because they’re in and out; you have to dedicate some time to them all. I think everyone is very understanding of everybody wanting each other to be better, so they also help us make time.”

Rhodes said from his perspective, “Initially, when I got here, there were a lot of moving parts. You’ve got people playing Sevens for Japan, Fifteens for Japan, new players coming in, old players leaving. But now that I know where everyone’s going, it’s not as bad as you probably imagine. I know who needs to be taken care of and who is under the responsibility of the national squads, and I don’t have to worry about them as much. Right now, some are with the national squads in camp, and we are taking care of a much smaller group, and I’ve got a handle on it, and it’s a lot more controllable.”

Main Goals for the Sevens Season 2025 – Rhodes Lea & Aimee-Leigh Campbell

The Taiyo Seimei Women’s Seven Series began in 2014 as a national competition, and the club finished third last season. The Series gets underway from June to August this year, and we asked Aimee-Leigh and Rhodes of their expectations.

Rhodes said of their ambitions, “I think the expectation for the Phoenix is always to win. But at the same time, we’ve got a real mixed bag of players, and nearly half of our entire group are representing Japan and not playing Sevens for us. Whilst I think there will always be an expectation for us to win, it’s also a really good time for some of the younger players that didn’t get to play very much during the 15s season to go out and show what they can do and get a bit more game-time.

So I’ll always expect that we will win. We always have the calibre of players and the coaching to win, but at the same time, it’ll be a great learning experience for a lot of the players.”

Aimee-Leigh agreed. “It’s a really good opportunity for the younger players, and I think some of them who have come to see me and I have been talking with them, really want to take this opportunity to impress. I think if they focus on doing their best and on what they can do, then I think it will all come together. I think the younger players are working really hard at putting themselves in a good position

The nice thing is that all those national players are still supporting them. And the fifteens players that are not in the national team and also not playing sevens, are there supporting the group and showing them, teaching them. So everybody wants the team to succeed, and I think that all of those parts together are going to make for a really good season.”

What Have Cultural Learnings Been Like in Japan?

Aimee-Leigh and Rhodes both said there had been big learnings in the past year, but so many positives to take away from their time living and working in Japan and with the Phoenix.

“I think everything’s been a really big change; the way of working is different, the players are different. I think it’s not to say South African players aren’t disciplined, but I think the Japanese level of discipline is different from South Africa, and that obviously changes how you work with the players. I would say they are good at being independent, and you can rely on them to get something done, which can make your job a little bit easier.”

Rhodes nodded along and said, ”The differences between Japanese rugby and Australian Rugby are probably that they have complete opposites in that I think Australia produces natural athletes, but especially in the women’s space, there is not the highest level of coaching or producing the best rugby players. In Japan, you’ll have players who aren’t naturally very gifted, but they are incredibly skilful and have high rugby IQ, and that makes my job a bit more fun.”

Aimee-Leigh added that from a player’s perspective, it’s better in Japan compared to her experience in South Africa in terms of access to doctors and support if the girls are struggling with something. “I don’t think in South Africa, it’s for lack of wanting, I just think they’ve put a lot more emphasis on it in Japan and at the Phoenix.”

‘Loving The Culture’

One of the biggest attractions for both members of staff in taking up their respective roles was the appeal of experiencing Japanese culture.

“I love the culture”, said Aimee-Leigh. “It’s obviously very different from back home, but I think because of how welcoming everyone has been and how willing they have been to show us things. With the players, when you ask them something, they’re willing to explain it to you. Getting that different perspective makes you see the world differently and better understand why they do certain things. 

From the outside, it might look a bit weird, but once you understand things, it does give you a whole new perspective on how you approach things and how you can apply those in different aspects of your life. It’s a really interesting culture, and everything we see on the internet is probably just touching the surface. You actually have to be here to understand it all.”

“I think Aimee covered it pretty well,” added Rhodes. “It’s such a unique culture. I don’t think there are too many countries in the world where you could have this many people living in such a small vicinity, but there’s so much harmony.”

Rugby Asia 247 has entered a content agreement with the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix club and will be bringing you player, coach, and staff interviews until 2026.

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