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The match dates and venues are now official for Japan vs Uruguay in June 2022. The Asia no 1 will play host to the South American no 2 in a two match series outside of World Rugby’s player release window. The series will be known as the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2022.
Game one will take place on Saturday, June 18 at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium (Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground) in Tokyo. The historic venue has been host to many Japanese home test matches in the past. Uruguay’s neighbors, Argentina played against Japan at the venue in 2016.
The second test match will take place on Saturday, June 25. It will be played at Kitakyushu’s Mikuni World Stadium, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu. The venue has been used for the Women’s Rugby Sevens Series.
Los Teros will return to play home matches following the two matches. Japan will subsequently play host to France in an additional two match series. The Japan vs France matches will be played in Toyota and Tokyo on Saturday, July 02 and Saturday, July 09.
Los Teros will field a team based on players from the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). Peñarol were beaten finalists in the 2021 final. SLAR 2021 served Uruguay well to prepare for the RWC 2023 qualifiers. Los Teros defeated Brazil and Chile to advance as South America 1. Uruguay then defeated the USA, on aggregate, to qualify for RWC 2023 as Americas 1.
Having qualified for RWC 2023, Los Teros await tough challenges in 2022. The tour to Japan is the start of this process. It remains unconfirmed who will play against Uruguay in the July Internationals. One opponent will not be Scotland. This is so despite Argentina hosting Scotland for three test matches in July and Chile’s negotiations for a mid-week test match before the series between Los Pumas and Scotland.
Los Teros are expected to play at home against European opposition. This may mean two of Italy, Georgia, Romania, Portugal and Spain visit Montevideo in July.
Uruguay’s June 2022 tour to Japan will be Los Teros’ first to the country since 2015. Uruguay warmed-up for RWC 2015 with a two match series against Japan. Prior to that the teams only other test match was in Montevideo in April 2005.
PREVIOUS RESULTS – JAPAN vs URUGUAY
August 29, 2015: Japan 40-0 Uruguay, Tokyo
August 22, 2015: Japan 30-8 Uruguay, Fukuoka
April 16, 2005: Uruguay 24-18 Japan, Montevideo
