Rugby, Japan, ranked 10th in the world, played a test match against New Zealand, ranked 4th in the world, and the All Blacks at the National Stadium as part of their preparations for next year's World Cup, and lost 31-38.

The Japan national rugby team, ranked 10th in the world, is strengthening its preparations for the World Cup, which will start in France next September. We had a test match at the stadium.



For Japan, captain and hooker Atsushi Sakate, 34-year-old veteran flanker Michael Leach, and winger Kotaro Matsushima, who has scored three consecutive tries in warm-up games this month, are the main players in the starting line-up.



In the first half, Japan were pushed by New Zealand's power and conceded three tries, temporarily trailing 3-21. Then, it came close to 17 to 21.



In the second half, Warner Diane scored a try to keep New Zealand safe, and after the 26th minute when the opposing player was sent off with a red card, they created opportunities by attacking the opposition half.



Then, in the 39th minute, Kazuki Himeno scored a try to close the gap to 4 points, but he fell short and lost 31-38.



In addition, the number of spectators for the match on the 29th was 65,188, which is the highest for a national team match other than the 2019 World Cup since 2004, when actual figures were first announced, and the new record for the largest number of people at the National Stadium. The has been updated.



Japan will play a test match against world No. 5 England on the 12th of next month and against France, the world No. 2 on the 20th of next month.

Past record against New Zealand

Japan has faced New Zealand six times so far, losing by a wide margin in some games where they were unable to score a single goal and in others they conceded nearly 150 goals.



▼The first match was October 25, 1987, 0-74


▼The second match was November 1, 1987, 4-106


▼The third match was June 4, 1995, 17-145


▼The fourth match was September 2011 7-83 on the

16th of the month


▼ Game 5 was 6-54 on November 2, 2013


▼ Game 6 was 31-69 on November 3, 2018, making it the most competitive game.