During all my time in Japan I’ve managed to see the majority of the top test-playing international rugby teams at some point but there have been a couple of notable absentees for a while.

The title of this post reveals that one of those teams was the current Six Nations champions France so having seen them play in Tokyo last night (18th July) the only teams of note that I’m yet to see are New Zealand and Argentina. Fans of emerging tier two nations like Georgia, Uruguay and the USA may be angry with me for not including them in that list though!

Despite being located in the northern hemisphere, Japan are representing the south in the recently formed World Rugby Nations Championship and so they should have had three home games against European opposition. However, their second match was played in Newcastle as Ireland complained about too much travel and used their political power to get it moved to New South Wales in Australia. France also played in the land Down Under on matchday two where they were victorious over the Wallabies 615 kilometres further up the east coast in Brisbane.

Japan’s impressive defeat of the Italians a fortnight earlier certainly whetted the appetites of the Brave Blossoms’ fans but this time the match wasn’t at the iconic home of rugby in Shibuya-ku as it was instead being played a kilometre down the road at the National Stadium in Shinjuku-ku which can hold more than double the number of spectators.

Saturday was a working day for me but I finished a bit earlier than usual and so arrived in good time which allowed for a walk round the stadium to sample the atmosphere and occasion whilst engaging a in a few photo opportunities.

My wife finally arrived about ten minutes before kickoff so we rushed in to take our seats right in the middle of a busy row of people. Not long after sitting down, flames went off as the two teams came out of the tunnel and a minute silence as respect to a former Japan coach who passed away recently was followed by the national anthems.

It may not be as upbeat as others but the Japanese one often makes my wife emotional when she hears it.

It promised to be a stern test for the Brave Blossoms as the match got underway at 5:40 pm on a cloudy but humid evening and it did not take the French too long at all to get on the scoresheet as they powered their way over the line inside two minutes.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the match might already be over against such strong opposition but a penalty for Japan was soon followed by a fantastic counterattack try which put them in front. Were we about to witness a historic victory against the French?

Sadly not as France immediately scored a try and then quickly added a couple more to go in 28-15 at the break.

The second half was a bit scrappy with multiple TMO checks and handling errors aplenty mixed in with some impressive passages of play from both sides. France added another try early in the half to put the outcome beyond doubt if it wasn’t already as good as over!

Final Score: Japan 15-42 France

The next time these teams face each other will be in Brisbane next October in the Rugby World Cup pool stage. Let’s hope that match is a little closer. It’ll take a lot of work and effort for the Brave Blossoms to pull off a shock win but they do have recent history of doing exactly that!

Click here to read ‘The Inaugural World Rugby Nations Championship Begins in Front of a Packed Tokyo Crowd as Japan Hosts Italy’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Rugby Match Day Experiences In 2026 So Far!’

Click here to read ‘Witnessing History as England Play a Rugby Match in Japan for the First Time in 45 Years!’

Click here to read ‘My 1st Leicester Tigers Rugby Match For 23 Years!’