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Japan in talks to join Rugby Championship or Six Nations

Ireland v Japan – Summer Series 2021 – Aviva Stadium

The Japan Rugby Football Union is in talks with both the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship to ensure regular international games, but would prefer to be part of the southern hemisphere competition.

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Japan reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup on home soil but did not play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, returning to action after 18 months against the British & Irish Lions in June 2021.

The Brave Blossoms won only one of their six matches last year, against Portugal.

“For our national teams to have not played for the best part of two years has had a huge impact,” former Japan international and current CEO Kensuke Iwabuchi told the JRFU website.

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    “We definitely need to be involved in regular international competition, otherwise we cannot expect to maintain consistently strong sides.

    “Europe has the Six Nations and the Southern Hemisphere have the Rugby Championship.

    “We’re in discussions with both competitions, but while Japan is technically in the Northern Hemisphere, from a time-zone perspective we’re closer to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific nations, so it probably makes sense to connect with their competitions.”

    The Rugby Championship is contested by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

    Iwabuchi said the team can take heart from solid displays in defeats by Ireland, Australia and Scotland last year and added they hoped to build on them before the next World Cup in France.

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    “I remain very optimistic regarding the Brave Blossoms and think that with two years of solid preparation ahead of France 2023 we can be in a position to achieve similar, if not better results than 2019,” Iwabuchi said.

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    Barbara 1180 days ago

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    EllenMoody 3 hours ago
    Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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    JWH 5 hours ago
    'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

    Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


    We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


    NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


    The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


    Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


    If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


    Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


    Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


    Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

    83 Go to comments
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