en.wikipedia.org

Japan at the Rugby World Cup - Wikipedia

  • ️Sat Oct 05 1991

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japan playing Australia at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Map of nations best results, excluding nations which unsuccessfully participated in qualifying tournaments

The Japan national team have competed in every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987. They are so far the only team to reach the Rugby World Cup through Asian regional qualifying. In 2019, they progressed to the quarterfinals for the first time in their participation,[1] making them the first Asian team to do so in the tournament.

Their best performance was in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Japan beat South Africa 34–32 in their first match of pool play, in what was described as the "greatest Rugby World Cup shock ever".[2][3] They went on to beat Samoa and the United States in pool play. They won three games out of four in pool play, the same as Scotland and South Africa, but unlike the other two, Japan did not get any bonus points, so the other two qualified for the quarter-finals.

Japan's first victory was a 52–8 win over Zimbabwe at the 1991 tournament under coach Hiroaki Shukuzawa. Their worst defeat came at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when they lost to New Zealand by 145–17, in a defeat blamed for setting the development of rugby union in Japan back by several years. Since then, in the 2003 World Cup, held in Australia, Japan coached by Shogo Mukai was hailed as the best of the so-called 'minnow' nations,[citation needed] gaining many new Japanese and overseas fans in the process, though the team still failed to win any games. In the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Japan managed a last-minute conversion to draw with Canada, and avoided coming last in Pool B. They did not win any games however, and did not reach the knockout stage of the tournament.

Japan hosted the tournament for the first time at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals.

Rugby World Cup record Qualification
Year Round Pld. W D L PF PA Squad Head coach Pos. Pld. W D L PF PA
1987 Pool stage 3 0 0 3 48 123 Squad K. Miyaji Invited
1991 3 1 0 2 77 87 Squad H. Shukuzawa 2nd 3 2 0 1 65 63
1995 3 0 0 3 55 252 Squad O. Koyabu 1st 4 4 0 0 252 28
1999 3 0 0 3 36 140 Squad S. Hirao 1st 3 3 0 0 221 25
2003 4 0 0 4 79 163 Squad S. Mukai 1st 4 4 0 0 420 47
2007 4 0 1 3 64 210 Squad J. Kirwan 1st 6 6 0 0 379 60
2011 4 0 1 3 69 184 Squad 1st 4 4 0 0 326 30
2015 4 3 0 1 98 100 Squad E. Jones 1st 4 4 0 0 316 8
2019 Quarter-finals 5 4 0 1 118 88 Squad J. Joseph Automatic qualification
2023 Pool stage 4 2 0 2 109 107 Squad
2027 To be determined
2031 To be determined
Total Quarter-finals 37 10 2 25 753 1,454 — — 28 27 0 1 1,979 261
  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place Home venue
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD T Pts Qualification
 Australia 3 3 0 0 108 41 +67 18 6 Knockout stage
 England 3 2 0 1 100 32 +68 15 4
 United States 3 1 0 2 39 99 −60 5 2
 Japan 3 0 0 3 48 123 −75 7 0
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
 Scotland 3 3 0 0 122 36 +86 6
 Ireland 3 2 0 1 102 51 +51 4
 Japan 3 1 0 2 77 87 −10 2
 Zimbabwe 3 0 0 3 31 158 −127 0
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
 New Zealand 3 3 0 0 222 45 +177 9
 Ireland 3 2 0 1 93 94 −1 7
 Wales 3 1 0 2 89 68 +21 5
 Japan 3 0 0 3 55 252 −197 3
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
 Wales 3 2 0 1 118 71 +47 7
 Samoa 3 2 0 1 97 72 +25 7
 Argentina 3 2 0 1 83 51 +32 7
 Japan 3 0 0 3 36 140 −104 3
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts Qualification
 France 4 4 0 0 204 70 +134 4 20 Quarter-finals
 Scotland 4 3 0 1 102 97 +5 2 14
 Fiji 4 2 0 2 98 114 −16 2 10
 United States 4 1 0 3 86 125 −39 2 6
 Japan 4 0 0 4 79 163 −84 0 0
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD B Pts Qualification
1  Australia 4 4 0 0 215 41 +174 4 20 Qualified for the quarter-finals
2  Fiji 4 3 0 1 114 136 −22 3 15
3  Wales 4 2 0 2 168 105 +63 4 12 Eliminated, automatic qualification for RWC 2011
4  Japan 4 0 1 3 64 210 −146 1 3
5  Canada 4 0 1 3 51 120 −69 0 2

Japan lost to New Zealand, Tonga and France, but managed to draw with Canada.

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD T B Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 4 4 0 0 240 49 +191 36 4 20 Advanced to the quarter-finals and
qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup
2  France 4 2 0 2 124 96 +28 13 3 11
3  Tonga 4 2 0 2 80 98 −18 7 1 9 Eliminated but qualified for 2015 Rugby World Cup
4  Canada 4 1 1 2 82 168 −86 9 0 6
5  Japan 4 0 1 3 69 184 −115 8 0 2
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD T B Pts Qualification
1  South Africa 4 3 0 1 176 56 +120 23 4 16 Advanced to the quarter-finals and
qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup
2  Scotland 4 3 0 1 136 93 +43 14 2 14
3  Japan 4 3 0 1 98 100 −2 9 0 12 Eliminated but qualified for 2019 Rugby World Cup
4  Samoa 4 1 0 3 69 124 −55 7 2 6
5  United States 4 0 0 4 50 156 −106 5 0 0
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD T B Pts Qualification
1  Japan 4 4 0 0 115 62 +53 13 3 19 Advanced to the quarter-finals and
qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup
2  Ireland 4 3 0 1 121 27 +94 18 4 16
3  Scotland 4 2 0 2 119 55 +64 16 3 11 Eliminated but qualified for 2023 Rugby World Cup
4  Samoa 4 1 0 3 58 128 −70 8 1 5
5  Russia 4 0 0 4 19 160 −141 1 0 0
Quarter-final
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA B Pts Qualification
1  England 4 4 0 0 150 39 +111 17 3 2 18 Advance to knockout stage, and
qualification to the 2027 Rugby World Cup
2  Argentina 4 3 0 1 127 69 +58 15 5 2 14
3  Japan 4 2 0 2 109 107 +2 12 14 1 9 Qualification to the 2027 Rugby World Cup
4  Samoa 4 1 0 3 92 75 +17 11 7 3 7
5  Chile 4 0 0 4 27 215 −188 4 30 0 0

At a special IRB meeting held in Dublin on 28 July 2009, Japan was announced as the host for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.[8]

List of planned stadia

[edit]

In addition to the nine venues located in Japan, one venue each from Singapore and Hong Kong have also been proposed to host five matches respectively.[9]

  1. ^ rugbybworldcup.com. "Joyous scenes as Japan win thriller to make quarter-finals". www.worldrugby.org. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
  2. ^ Kitson, Robert (September 19, 2015). "Japan beat South Africa in greatest Rugby World Cup shock ever". The Guardian. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  3. ^ "South Africa 32 Japan 34, match report: Outstanding Japan pull off the greatest upset in World Cup history". Daily Telegraph. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ^ Japan vs United States 1987 World Rugby
  5. ^ England vs Japan 1987 World Rugby
  6. ^ Australia vs Japan 1987 World Rugby
  7. ^ a b c d "Rugby World Cup 2023 pool stage". World Rugby. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  8. ^ "England will host 2015 World Cup". BBC. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  9. ^ RWC 2015/2019: 15 Main Topics & Venues of the Bid of Japan , Japan Rugby Football Union