Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2019 Rugby World Cup on Wednesday signed a collaboration agreement that they hope will smooth preparations for Japan's hosting of the two sporting mega-events.

"One might think that the Rugby World Cup and Olympic organizing committees would have a close relationship, but that has not been the case," 2019 RWC organizing committee CEO Akira Shimazu said after signing the agreement with Tokyo 2020 counterpart Toshiro Muto.

"So we would like to change that and this agreement makes it official."