Brave Blossoms to Host the All Blacks On October 29th 2022

Japan’s men’s XV rugby team the Brave Blossoms will host the New Zealand All Blacks on October 29 2022 as the ABs head to Europe on their customary end-of-year European tour.

Rumours of the match were circulating as far back as May 2022 when Japan Rugby News Riche Freeman suggested the game could be played but only this week has the fixture been confirmed by the respective unions.

Brave Blossoms to Host the All Blacks 2022

Japan has yet to beat the All Blacks but the powerhouse NZ team is under huge pressure and enduring one of the worst runs of games in their history, which could set to continue as they play the Springboks in the second match of the 2022 Rugby Championship this weekend (August 13th 2022) in South Africa.

The closest scoreline between Japan and NZ was the most recent encounter which the All Blacks won 69-31 also in Tokyo on November 3 2018.

The NZRU announced that the match against Japan would take place at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday 29 October for the newly created Lipovitan-D Challenge Cup 2022.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) CEO Mark Robinson said: “Rugby in Japan has grown its profile in recent years and that’s been reflected in the results of the national team, so the All Blacks will expect a tough Test in Tokyo. We are looking forward to building on our relationship with Japan Rugby and our partner Taisho Pharmaceutical in October. Taisho’s support for this fixture has been key and I have no doubt it will be a great occasion seeing the two teams play at the National Stadium.”

Japan is coached by former All Blacks loose forward Jamie Joseph, assisted by outgoing Highlanders coach Tony Brown, and most recently endures a two-test defeat by France last month before which the Brave Blossoms had beaten Uruguay in a two-match series.

Photo Credit: NZRU/Getty Images

Brave Blossoms Head Coach Jamie Joseph said on the JRDU website: “Today’s announcement is tremendous news that will be welcomed by our fans in Japan and around the world. We’re very much looking forward to hosting the All Blacks in Tokyo and playing in front of our home fans. We are excited to be now facing New Zealand at home, and then England and France on our European tour, three teams that will be in line to lift the Webb Ellis Cup next year in Paris. This is the level of competition that we need to be testing ourselves against, to strengthen our squad ahead of next year’s World Cup.

“The last time we faced New Zealand in 2018 we scored five tries, however we were frustrated by their ability to punish our mistakes and attack from open play, conceding ten tries by full-time. We’re a better team now and will be looking to be at our best this autumn so that we can finally take a win from the All Blacks.”

New Zealand currently lies 5th on the World Rugby rankings and has in their most recent matches lost to France, Ireland (3 times) and to South Africa, with one win over the Irish in the home-series loss earlier in 2022.

NZ will then continue on to play Wales, Scotland and England in November 2022.

All Blacks v Japan previous results:

• 1987: Osaka, October 25, 74-0
• 1987: Tokyo, November 1, 106-4
• 1995: Bloemfontein, June 4, 145-17 (RWC 1995)
• 2011: Hamilton, September 16, 83-7 (RWC 2011)
• 2013: Tokyo, November 2, 54-6
• 2018: Tokyo, November 3, 69-31

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