The Japan national rugby sevens team participates in competitions such as the World Rugby Sevens Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

History

Hong Kong Sevens

Japan won the Plate match at the 1980 and 1999

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

. In the 2007 Hong Kong Sevens, Japan reached Bowl semi-finals (19th place), where they lost against France; previously they had beaten Asian rivals China and Chinese Taipei. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, they lost all four matches versus South Africa, Argentina, Russia and Hong Kong. Japan won in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

against China and Sri Lanka, after which they lost the Bowl semi-finals versus Portugal. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

they beat Hong Kong but were defeated by Scotland in Bowl quarter-finals, so they ended 13th. The team won in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

against China, Scotland and the United States, then were beaten by Canada in the Bowl final to end 9th. In the 2012 World Series qualifier at Hong Kong, Japan were defeated by Portugal and Russia and won against Guyana in the group phase. The team won against Hong Kong in quarter-finals, but was defeated by Spain in semi-finals and Portugal in the third-place match. so they failed to qualify for the World Series. In the 2013 World Series pre-qualifier at Hong Kong, the team won all group phase matches against Brazil, Georgia and Jamaica. However, Georgia beat them in quarter-finals. In the 2014 World Series qualifier at Hong Kong, Japan won the three group phase matches against Uruguay, Cook Islands and Trinidad and Tobago. Later they beat Tunisia, Russia and Italy to claim World Series core status for 2014/15.

Sevens World Series

Japan won the Plate final match (5th place) at the 2000 Japan Sevens, scoring 8 points for the 1999–2000 World Sevens Series. The team lost the Bowl final match to end 10th in the 2002 Australia Sevens and 2002 Singapore Sevens. In the 2012 USA Sevens they reached Bowl semifinals (11th place). In the 2014 Japan Sevens they repeated that result. Japan became a core team for the 2014–15 Sevens World Series. As hosts of the 2015 Japan Sevens, they won over Samoa, tied Argentina and lost to France to advance to Cup quarter-finals. They were defeated by Fiji and then Scotland, therefore resulting 7th in the tournament. However, they resulted last in seven out of ten events and finished 15th, therefore the team lost its core team status for 2015–16. At the 2016 Wellington Sevens, Japan defeated France to reach Bowl semi-finals, where they lost to Scotland, therefore claiming 11th place. The team advanced to Cup quarter-finals of the 2016 USA Sevens after winning over Scotland and drawing versus England. They lost to Fiji and defeated Kenya to reach the Plate final, where they fell to New Zealand to clinch 6th place.

2024

Japan qualified for the Sevens Challenger Series and competed in the first round in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. They were edged out of the quarter-final by eventual winners

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and then went on to beat

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

for fifth place. They came ninth in the overall Challenger Series.

Tournament Summary

Summer Olympic Games

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Asian Games

Team

Current squad

12-member squad for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in

Former squads

Coaches

* Wataru Murata - head coach from February 28, 2008 * Kensuke Iwabuchi - coach from February 28, 2008

References

External links

Official websiteWorldRugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Japan national rugby sevens team National rugby sevens teams sevens