Rugby Union: England will travel to Japan for historic Test in June 2024

In June 2024, England’s Rugby Union squad will face the Japan in their home country for the first time ever. The venue is yet to be confirmed but the match is scheduled to take place on 22 June 2024.

The teams have previously met three times, with the last fixture coming in the 2022 autumn Test matches and England winning 52-13. Next year’s fixture, however, will be the first time since 1979 that England have played in Japan and while the Roses toured Japan in 1971 and 1979, the matches did not then have Test status.

The RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said: “This is a landmark occasion for our two rugby nations.” The JRFU president, Masato Tsuchida also added: “We are delighted to welcome England to Japan next year for this historic test match and to have the opportunity to test ourselves against one of the world’s best teams. The JRFU and Japanese rugby fans have great respect for English rugby and recognise England as the birthplace of our great sport.”

England and Japan will, of course, meet before this date as they play each other in the group stages of the World Cup later this year. England will face Japan on 17 September in Nice as part of the countries’ opening games of the French Rugby Union World Cup.

The first official Test match played between the two sides took place in 1987 at the Rugby World Cup and saw England win 60-7. England then hosted Japan in the 2017 men’s internationals with the hosts beating Japan 35-17 before last year’s Autumn Nations series saw the Roses triumph over Japan by almost 40 points.