The 2019 Rugby World Cup is less than two months away.
The tournament, which is the world's third-largest sporting event, undoubtedly will have a major impact, not just on rugby in Japan, but on many other sports in the host nation.
What those effects will be remains to be seen, but for sports such as American football, that are in direct competition for the same athletes at the underage level, recruiting could become much harder in the wake of the inevitable surge in rugby's popularity.