Mana Furuta

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. She competed for Japan at the 2021 Rugby World Cup.

Early career
Furuta is a native of Fukuoka Prefecture and her father also played rugby.

Rugby career
Furuta debuted for Japan at the age of 18 during the 2016 Asia Rugby Championship. She missed the 2017 Rugby World Cup, but returned to the team in 2019.

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.

In 2020, she began her professional career playing for Arukas Queen Kumagaya's sevens team. She then joined Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix in 2021 and was on loan to the Brumbies Women in 2022. She was chosen by her teammates for the Helen Taylor Award after an outstanding season for the Brumbies.

She featured for Japan at the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup that was held in New Zealand.

In 2023, she was named in the Sakura XV's side for the Asia Rugby Championship in Kazakhstan. She was a member of the side that narrowly beat Italy for the first time in September. In October, she was selected for the side for the inaugural 2023 WXV 2 tournament in South Africa.

2024 saw her make the Sakura's squad again for the Asia Rugby Championship in Hong Kong.