Japan rugby team
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| Nickname(s) | Cherry Blossoms/Brave Blossoms |
|---|---|
| Emblem | Sakura |
| Union | Japan Rugby Football Union |
| Head coach | Jamie Joseph |
| Captain | Michael Leitch |
| Most caps | Hitoshi Ono (98) |
| Top scorer | Ayumu Goromaru (708) |
| Top try scorer | Daisuke Ohata (69) |
| Home stadium | Chichibunomiya Stadium |
| World Rugby ranking | |
| Current | 11 (as of 13 June 2016) |
| Highest | 9 (2016) |
| Lowest | 20 (2006) |
| First international | |
|
Japan 9–8 Canada (31 January 1932) |
|
| Biggest win | |
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Japan 155–3 Chinese Taipei (1 July 2002) |
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| Biggest defeat | |
|
Japan 17–145 New Zealand (4 June 1995) |
|
| World Cup | |
| Appearances | 8 (First in 1987) |
| Best result | Pool stage, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 |
| Website | www.jrfu.org |
The Japan national rugby union team (often known as The Brave Blossoms) is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia, but has both enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years. Rugby union in Japan is administered by the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU), which was founded in 1926. They compete annually in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Asian Rugby Championship. They have also participated in every Rugby World Cup since the tournament began in 1987.
Rugby was first played in Japan's treaty ports as early as 1866. Popular participation by local university teams was established in 1899 and Japan's first recorded international was a match against a Canadian team in 1932. Notable games for Japan include a victory over the Junior All Blacks in 1968, and a narrow 6–3 loss to England in 1971. Famous wins by Japan include a 28–24 victory over a Scotland XV in 1989 and a 23–8 victory over Wales in 2013. In the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Japan drew 12–12 against Canada. In 2011, Japan displayed its progress by winning the 2011 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, played against Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Further progress was displayed in 2014 when Japan completed a string of ten consecutive test wins (a record for a tier 2 team) to rank in the world's top 10 teams. This continued into 2015 where they produced arguably the biggest upset in rugby history in a Rugby World Cup pool match against the Springboks, winning 34–32.
The first recorded instance of a team being established and rugby being played in Japan was in 1866 with the founding of the Yokohama Foot Ball Club. Games, mainly between service personnel, were played on the Garrison Parade Ground in Yamate, Yokohama. In 1874 records also illustrate British sailors staging a game in Yokohama. Other games were played at other treaty ports such as Kobe between teams of long-term foreign residents and visiting ships' crews and garrisons, but they rarely involved indigenous Japanese. The date of local Japanese participation in the sport is most frequently cited as 1899, when students at Keio University were introduced to the game by Professor Edward Bramwell Clarke and Ginnosuke Tanaka both graduates of Cambridge University.
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