Japan in discussion with both Six Nations and Rugby Championship confirms Kensuke Iwabuchi

Japan Rugby Football Union chief executive Kensuke Iwabuchi revealed that the board is in discussion with Six Nations and Rugby Championship.

The Brave Blossoms impressed with their performance in the home 2019 World Cup where they reached the quarter-finals but endured a tough time since then having missed the entire 2020 due to Covid and managed a solitary win that came against Portugal in six games last year.

With a hope to expand in the international arena, Iwabuchi said Japan is in negotiation with both the competition organizers but insisted that they would prefer Rugby Championship due to the time zone factor.

“For our national teams to have not played for the best part of two years has had a huge impact,” he said the Brave Blossoms’ official website.

“We definitely need to be involved in regular international competition, otherwise we cannot expect to maintain consistently strong sides.

“Europe has the Six Nations and the southern hemisphere have the Rugby Championship.

“We’re in discussions with both competitions, but while Japan is technically in the Northern Hemisphere, from a time-zone perspective we’re closer to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific nations, so it probably makes sense to connect with their competitions.”