The 1971 England rugby union tour of the Far East was a series of matches played between September and October by an English national selection in Asia, as part of the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

's centenary celebrations. None of the six international matches on this tour were given official Test status, with England playing as England XV, No "caps" were awarded to the English players who took part on the tour. The first match against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

was played at the

Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Stadium The in Higashiosaka is the oldest rugby union stadium in Japan specifically dedicated to rugby. Its location is next to Hanazono Central Park (花園中央公園, hanazono chūō kōen). Owned by the City of Higashiosaka, it opened in 1929 with ...

, in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, on the Friday, 24 September 1971, (

Vernal Equinox Day is a public holiday in Japan that occurs on the date of the Northward equinox in Japan Standard Time (the vernal equinox can occur on different dates in different time-zones), usually March 20 or 21. The date of the holiday is not officially d ...

, a public holiday in Japan), in front of a crowd of 13,000. The Japanese side was captained by 30 year old Akira Yokoi and coached by Tetsunosuke Onishi. England struggled to overcome Japan in the match, despite outscoring the home side five tries to two (tries were still worth four points). The match was level at 19-19 with three minutes to go before tries from right wing Peter Glover in the 37th minute and centre

Jeremy Janion Jeremy Paul Aubrey George Janion (born ) was a rugby union international wing who represented England in twelve matches between 1971 and 1975. Janion was educated at St. Edmund's College, Ware. He played for Saffron Walden, Bedford and Londo ...

in the 38th minute gave the English XV a 27-19 victory. The second match of the series held under lights at the

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium (also called Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium) is a rugby union stadium located in the Aoyama district of central Tokyo, Japan. It is the spiritual home of Japanese rugby union and the headquarters of the Japan Rugby Football Union. Named for P ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on Tuesday, 28 September 1971, before 25,000 people, was even closer than the previous game. At halftime neither side had scored a try, but England crept out to a halftime lead of 6-0, with two penalties scored by fullback

Peter Rossborough Peter Rossborough (born 30 June 1948) is a former a rugby union international who represented England from 1971 to 1975. He played club rugby for Coventry R.F.C. during the 1970s. Personal life A native of Coventry, Rossborough attended King ...

. Japan then came back hard in the second half, getting three points of their own, with a penalty scored by flanker

Yoshiharu Yamaguchi is a former Japanese rugby union player. He made his debut for Japan against a touring New Zealand Universities team in Osaka on 12 March 1967. He last appeared for Japan against England's under 23 team in Twickenham Twickenham is a suburba ...

. One of the Japanese centres, Koji Miyata, was tackled just three yards from the try line but the visitors eventually held out for a 6-3 win.

Results

''Scores and results list England's points tally first.'' {{England national rugby union team

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

England national rugby union team tours 1971 in Asian sport