Tuesday in Japan marks one month to go until the country becomes the first Asian nation to host the Rugby World Cup, the sport’s quadrennial showpiece that to date has been dominated by the Southern Hemisphere powerhouses.
Twenty teams will battle it out for the Webb Ellis Cup from Sept. 20-Nov. 2, with Japan — recently crowned Pacific Nations Cup champion-— gunning for the knockout stage for the first time following its historic upset over two-time World Cup winner South Africa at the 2015 tournament in England.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.