Team GB and England to discuss preparation for Japan mega events
Bill Sweeney, pictured, believes Team GB and England's rugby union team could benefit from helping each other
©PA
Team GB and England rugby team are in touch with each other to discuss their course of preparations for their respective grand events in Japan.
England are scheduled to play the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan where a year later Team GB will be seen in action for the Olympics 2020.
England coach Eddie Jones, who has coached Japan between 2012 and 2015 was invited to the British Olympic Association's London headquarters on Monday by Team GB chief executive Bill Sweeney.
"He's there in 2019, we're there in 2020," said Sweeney.
"There have to be some areas of common interest that we can talk about and that's good news."
Sweeney has been proactive in his course of action as he has already signed agreements with the training venues and Yokohama will host the main camp for Team GB while the discussion on their pre-season games are also well ahead.
Sir Hugh Robertson, who recently replaced Sebastian Coe as the new chairman of British Olympic Association lauded the efforts of Sweeney and is confident of providing all support mechanisms for the British athletes ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the Tokyo 2020 summer Games.
Sweeney also echoed Roberston's words and believes Team GB are in a better shape for the upcoming Olympics than it was in Rio in 2016.
"Our primary purpose - our only purpose, really - is to make sure athletes can perform similar feats to what they did in Rio," said Sweeney.
"And being a privately-funded body we've got to generate our own commercial funds. But we're in great shape. We're in much better shape coming out of Rio than we were coming out of London.
"If you asked now what our vision is for Tokyo compared to Rio, we could give you a very detailed answer - we feel very much ahead of the curve in terms of the issues we need to deal with going into Tokyo.
"But we think that one of the challenges we will face coming into Tokyo is that we're looking at a city of 38 million people, with a very different culture, it can be a bit overwhelming at times.
"That's why we're thinking of bringing everybody through Yokohama. It's the best place to make that transition. Eddie may think similarly but he'll have a very strong point of view because he's half Japanese, anyway."
