2019 International Defence Rugby Semi Finals
The 2019 International Defence Rugby Competition has entered the semi-finals stage in Japan. The tournament includes ten top national defence rugby teams from around the globe and is set to conclude after the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup.
The games being played on September 19th are effectively the semi-finals, based on the information from the tournament organisers. The matchups are as follows:
- New Zealand vs Fiji (Semi-Final 1)
- UK vs France (Semi-Final 2)
- Australia vs Georgia
- Tonga vs Japan
The NZDF Rugby – Defence Blacks had beaten their Tasman rivals Australia 47-35 and now face the fancied Fijians who are the defending champions from 2015.
In another huge rivalry, the UK take on the French, with the UK finishing runners up in 2015. The remaining teams Australia, Georgia, Tonga and Japan will be playing for placements outside of the top 4.
All of the final games will be played on Monday 23rd September, which is a national holiday in Japan. The main finals will be played at the Kashiwa Noha Stadium.
Highlights of some of the games are on the Japanse Ministry of Defence Youtube channel.
(We could not find the results of the other games at the time of publishing)
Read more about the preview of the tournament here. You can also catch up on more rugby tournaments taking place during the RWC 2019 in Asia at the Rugby World Cup.