The Japan Rugby Football Union has selected three young players to allocate to New Zealand as part of a so-called ATQ (Advance to the Quarterfinal) Project this year, the JRFU announced on Friday.

The three players to be allocated are locks Tomoaki Taniguchi of Toyota Motors and Manabu Suzuki of Secom and lock/flanker Shinya Makabe of Chuo University.

The three players will take part in the player development program in New Zealand and play for a club in the New Zealand league. The ATQ Project has been set to develop players who will contribute to guide Japan to the final round of the 2011 World Cup.

The JRFU is planning to send more players to be named later.