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Jones to face familiar foes as Japan update 'historic' 2024 schedule
Japan’s Brave Blossoms will play a “full season” of international Tests in 2024, with four opponents visiting the land of the rising sun.
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Those opponents will be England, Italy, Georgia and New Zealand, while a Japan XV side will play a two-match series against the Maori All Blacks.
The Test against England will technically be the first Test between the two nations on Japanese soil, and will see former England coach Eddie Jones tussle with the team he coached to a silver medal at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
The contests against both Georgia and Italy have been added to the schedule and will be played in northern Japan, with Sendai and Hokkaido hosting the matchups.
The game against the All Blacks will take place at the same venue as the 2019 Rugby World Cup final.
Jones was excited to get his second tenure as Brave Blossom’s coach underway against a familiar opponent.
📢 Match schedule update! 🌸
2024 is set to be a historic year for Japan Rugby as we add another two exciting fixtures to the Brave Blossoms calendar
v England 🏴
v M?ori All Blacks 🖤
v Georgia 🇬🇪
v Italy 🇮🇹
v New Zealand 🇳🇿ADVERTISEMENT🔗 https://t.co/AKmUUhvC5l#BraveBlossoms pic.twitter.com/Qwveurjx53
— Japan Rugby (@JRFURugby) January 13, 2024
“To start the domestic season with Rugby World Cup semi-finalists England and to then finish against finalists New Zealand is a great honour and a massive opportunity for Japan to benchmark our level against teams we have never beaten before in our history,” he said.
“In between, the Japan XV will take on the mighty M?ori All Blacks in what should be two entertaining matches and then we bring rugby to the north of Japan against the vibrant Italians and rapidly improving Georgians, giving us a full season.”
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JRFU President, Masato Tsuchida echoed the coach’s sentiment.
“We’re honoured to welcome Georgia and Italy to Japan this summer, in addition to England, and the All Blacks and M?ori All Blacks from New Zealand, and to host these incredible matches in front of our home fans. I would like to thank the prefectural unions, local governments and regional organisations for their support and cooperation in the public bid process to bring these matches to their regions. We are blessed with wonderful host cities and stadia, and we are delighted to be able to work with local communities to prepare for these fixtures.
“We will make every effort to ensure that the Brave Blossoms, which are making a fresh start under new Head Coach Eddie Jones, will play in packed stadiums and that people from all over the country will be able to enjoy watching these matches. We look forward to your continued support and enthusiasm for the successful growth of Japanese rugby.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to comments