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Japan women's national rugby union team
National sporting side of Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
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History
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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]
In May 2025, the Sakura's had their biggest win when they trounced Kazakhstan 90–0 in the opening match of the Asia Rugby Women's Championship in Fukuoka; they ran in 14 unanswered tries.[13][14]
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Records
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Overall
(Full internationals only)
See Women's international rugby for information about the status of international games and match numbering
Rugby World Cup
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Players
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Recent squad
The Sakura XV announced their 30-player squad on 4 September 2024 for the WXV 2 tournament.[16]
World Cup squads
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See also
References
External links
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