Japan women's national rugby union team
Nickname(s) | Cherry Blossom 15 (桜十五 (kanji), さくらフィフティーン (kana), Sakura fifutīn) | ||
---|---|---|---|
Union | Japan Rugby Football Union | ||
Head coach | Lesley McKenzie | ||
Captain | Saki Minami | ||
| |||
World Rugby ranking | |||
Current | 13 (as of 29 August 2022) | ||
First international | |||
1991![]() ![]() (Aberavon, Wales 6 April 1991) | |||
Biggest win | |||
![]() ![]() (Bangkok, Thailand 3 June 2005) | |||
Biggest defeat | |||
![]() ![]() (Melrose, Scotland 15 April 1994) | |||
World Cup | |||
Appearances | 4 (First in 1991) | ||
Best result | 8th (1994) |
The Japan women's national rugby union team (Ragubī joshi nihon daihyō (ラグビー女子日本代表), nicknamed Sakura Fifteen) are a national sporting side of Japan, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1991.[1]
History
Japan made their international debut at the 1991 Women's Rugby World Cup.[1] Since then, Japan has appeared at three other editions of the World Cup in 1994, 2002 and 2017.[2] The team has won the Asia Rugby Women's Championship in 2015,[3] 2016 and 2017.
Japan qualified for the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand after a revision of Asia's qualification was made due to the global pandemic. As Asia's highest ranked team they qualified automatically for the tournament.[4]
In November 2021, Japan toured Europe and played test matches against Ireland, Scotland and Wales.[5][6][7][8] Wales defeated Japan 23–5, the Sakura's scoring their only try in the 77th minute with a missed conversion.[9] Scotland ran in six tries to give the Sakura's their second loss 36–12, at the DAM Health Stadium in Edinburgh.[10] Ireland down to 14 players pulled off an unlikely win to beat Japan 15–12.[11]
Japan toured Australia in 2022, they played and won matches against Australia, the Australian Barbarians, and Fiji.[12]
Players
Recent Squad
Japan named their final 32-player squad on the 13 September 2022, for the 2021 Rugby World Cup.[13]
Previous Squads
Records
Overall
Top 20 rankings as of 30 October 2022[14] | |||
Rank | Change* | Team | Points |
1 | ![]() |
![]() |
96.78 |
2 | ![]() |
![]() |
89.57 |
3 | ![]() |
![]() |
87.83 |
4 | ![]() |
![]() |
87.21 |
5 | ![]() |
![]() |
78.70 |
6 | ![]() |
![]() |
78.00 |
7 | ![]() |
![]() |
76.78 |
8 | ![]() |
![]() |
74.01 |
9 | ![]() |
![]() |
72.70 |
10 | ![]() |
![]() |
68.71 |
11 | ![]() |
![]() |
68.47 |
12 | ![]() |
![]() |
67.94 |
13 | ![]() |
![]() |
64.50 |
14 | ![]() |
![]() |
61.10 |
15 | ![]() |
![]() |
58.45 |
16 | ![]() |
![]() |
58.33 |
17 | ![]() |
![]() |
58.27 |
18 | ![]() |
![]() |
58.01 |
19 | ![]() |
![]() |
57.89 |
20 | ![]() |
![]() |
57.73 |
*Change from the previous week |
(Full internationals only)
See Women's international rugby for information about the status of international games and match numbering
Opponent | First game | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
2017 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25% |
![]() |
1994 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
![]() |
2016 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
![]() |
1991 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
![]() |
1998 | 15 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 93.33% |
![]() |
1994 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20% |
![]() |
2002 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0% |
![]() |
2005 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 12.5% |
![]() |
2002 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50% |
![]() |
2000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
![]() |
2019 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50% |
![]() |
2007 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
![]() |
1991 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
![]() |
1991 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50% |
![]() |
1994 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
![]() |
2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
Summary | 1991 | 57 | 27 | 1 | 29 | 47.36% |
Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | PF | PA |
![]() |
Plate quarter-finals | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 112 |
![]() |
Shield 3rd play-off | 8th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 293 |
![]() |
Did Not Enter | |||||||
![]() |
13th place play-off | 14th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 58 | 95 |
![]() |
Did Not Qualify | |||||||
![]() | ||||||||
![]() | ||||||||
![]() |
11th place play-off | 11th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 87 | 152 |
![]() |
Pool Stage | — | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 92 |
Total | 5/9 | 8th | 20 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 188 | 744 |
See also
References
- ^ a b JRFU (April 8, 2004). "女子ラグビー15年の歴史 - 海外遠征と外国チーム招聘の記録|日本ラグビーフットボール協会|RUGBY:FOR ALL「ノーサイドの精神」を、日本へ、世界へ。" [15 years of Women rugby football - Visiting overseas and hosting international games | Japan Rugby Football Union | Rugby football : For All; propagate the spirit of "no sides" to Japan and to the World.]. www.rugby-japan.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-09-27.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Japan and Hong Kong qualify for Women's World Cup". Asia Rugby. 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Japan's women crowned Asian champions for first time". World Rugby.org. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
- ^ "Sakura Fifteen Qualify for Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand". Japan Rugby Football Union. 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Sakura Fifteen Set to Take on Wales". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ "Sakura Fifteen Confirmed to Play Ireland on European Tour". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ "Japan Team Announced to Take on Scotland". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ "Japan Team Announced to Take on Ireland". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ Sands, Katie (2021-11-08). "Wales beat Japan 23-5 in autumn opener as Joyce scores two tries". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
- ^ "Scotland Women 36 Japan Women 12". Scottish Rugby Union. 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Doggett, Eamon (2021-11-20). "Ireland v Japan score recap: Ireland did deep with 14 players to pull off win". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
- ^ "Japan women finish tour of Australia unbeaten". www.rugbyworldcup.com. 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
- ^ "Sakura Fifteen Rugby World Cup Squad Announced". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Women's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
External links
- Japan RFU Official English page
- Japan Times Articles by Rich Freeman - Japan Times rugby correspondent until 2005, then at the Daily Yomiuri
- Japan RFU - in Japanese
- Japanese rugby union news from Planet Rugby
- CS1 maint: url-status
- CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
- Articles with short description
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- Articles containing Japanese-language text
- Japan women's national rugby union team
- Japanese rugby union teams
- Asian national women's rugby union teams
- 1991 establishments in Japan
- Rugby clubs established in 1991