On December 15, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced that Japan team will play the test match with 3 countries in 2017. Three national teams are the Romania national rugby union team, the Ireland national rugby union team and the Australia national rugby union team. Every match will be carried out in Japan, the stadium to be held is undecided.
The Japan national team, officially nicknamed Brave Blossoms played 4 test matches in November 2016. Japan beat Georgia 28 to 22, but they lost to Argentina, Wales and Fiji. So the 2016 Autumn Internationals of Japan were 1 win & 3 losses. Japan is currently ranked 11th in the world, so let’s introduce the recent situation of 3 countries and past match results.
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・Romania national rugby union team
The Romania national team, officially nicknamed the Oaks, is ranked 16th in the world on 2016 December. In the 2016 Autumn Internationals, Romania play three matches at the Arcul de Triumf Stadium of their home stadium. They played with United States of America, Canada and Uruguay, and won all matches. Both of the three countries were downgraded from Romania, but they have the ability to participate in the Rugby World Cup every time. The past results of Japan and Romania is that Japan took 4 wins and 1 loss. The recent results was that Japan beat Romania 18 to 13 at Bucharest in November 2014. The test match of Japan vs. Romania will be hold in June 10, 2017.
・Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team is ranked 4th in the world on 2016 December. In the 2016 Autumn Internationals, Ireland beat New Zealand All-Blacks 40 to 29 at Chicago. This was their first victory in the 29th match since the first match in 111 years ago. In the local rematch Ireland were defeated by All Blacks, but they beat Australia 27 to 24. Ireland also won Canada, so the 2016 Autumn Internationals of Ireland were 3 wins & 1 loss. The past results of Japan and Ireland is that Japan took 5 losses, Japan has never won. But the British and Irish Lions will make a trip to New Zealand in the same time of the test match, and Ireland will come to Japan with a young squad. So there is a possibility that Japan will win for the first time. The test matches of Japan vs. Ireland will be hold in June 17 and 24, 2017.
・Australia national rugby union team
The Australia national rugby union team, officially nicknamed the Wallabies, is ranked 3rd in the world on 2016 December. In the 2016 Autumn Internationals, Australia played with Wales, Scotland and France at first, and won all matches. But after that, they lost to Ireland and England. So the 2016 Autumn Internationals of Wallabies were 3 wins & 2 losses. The past results of Japan and Ireland is that Japan took 4 losses, Japan has never won. But since last year, the Sunwolves of Japanese team are participating in the Super rugby. So the squad of Japan team are getting used to Australian rugby little by little. There is still a difference between both teams, but it will be a good game. The test matches of Japan vs. Australia will be hold in November 4, 2017.
This youtube’s video is the test match of Ireland vs. Australia at the Aviva Stadium in November 27, 2016. It is fun to be able to watch their match in Japan.