{"id":75338,"date":"2025-08-17T15:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/75338\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T15:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:40:12","slug":"japan-sakura-15-attend-womens-rugby-world-cup-2025-welcome-ceremony-in-northampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/75338\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Sakura 15 Attend Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 Welcome Ceremony in Northampton"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first eight teams for the\u00a0Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 have attended three Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 Welcome Ceremonies held in Sunderland, Exeter and Northampton, with the Japanese national women\u2019s side among four teams to be welcomed at the latter.<\/p>\n

Photo by Eddie Keogh \u2013 World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images \u2013 Japan\u2019s Iroha Nagata and head coach Lesley McKenzie pose for a photograph after receiving their Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup participation caps during the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup opening ceremony at Northampton Guildhall on August 16, 2025, in Northampton, England.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teams Attend Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 Welcome Ceremonies As Start Inches Closer<\/p>\n

Eight of the 16 participating teams were officially welcomed to the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025, and the welcome ceremony in Northampton saw all four of South Africa, Ireland, Brazil and Japan attend the ceremony at Northampton\u2019s Guildhall ahead of a double-header on Sunday, 24 August.<\/p>\n

The Sakura 15 are in their opening match host city, getting ready for their match against Ireland at Franklin Gardens in and South Africa face tournament debutants Brazil afterwards.<\/p>\n

The Japanese team will be involved in some community activities, including at Tour Delapr\u00e9 Abbey on Monday, 18th August. The Sakura 15 team announcement for the opening game is expected to be held on 22 August.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

Photo Credit \u2013 JRFU \u2013 Sakura 15 training in Northampton<\/p>\n

Springbok Women utility forward Nomsai Mokwai said, \u201cThe final push starts now. We all have to be the best teammate, the best opponent and the best player we can be. It is not about the individual here; this is a team representing all of South Africa, and that is where the focus will be. I am happy to be all those at the 2025 World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, World Rugby, England 20,25 and local dignitaries welcomed the host nation and favourites for the tournament, the Red Roses, as well as the USA at Sunderland\u2019s City Hall ahead of their match on Friday, 22 August, which will get the RWC 2025 underway with more than 40,000 tickets sold.<\/p>\n

England captain Zoe Aldcroft commented, \u201c\u201cIt\u2019s just so special to be able to come up here to the north-east, where I\u2019m from \u2013 I\u2019m from Scarborough [in North Yorkshire]. It\u2019s amazing that we\u2019re getting to reach all areas of England. I think that\u2019s super special in creating that momentum and hopefully the whole country can get behind us during the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former England full-back and current World Rugby Vice-Chairman Jonathan Webb <\/a>addressed the two teams and local dignitaries in Sunderland, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tournament is smashing records, challenging convention, and creating history\u2026.To you, the players and coaches \u2013 it is now your time to shine and create those unforgettable moments.\u00a0Your personality, your platform, and your presence are blazing a trail for rugby, for women and for sport. Through your authenticity and relevance, you are connecting with new audiences, breaking down barriers, and showing the true power of personality in sport to change the game. We thank you for everything that you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Exeter Cathedral, France and Italy were welcomed ahead of their match at Sandy Park on Saturday, 23 August. That is the venue for Japan\u2019s second match against the reigning champions, New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

Photo Credit \u2013 JRFU<\/p>\n

On 17th August 2025, the remaining eight nations will take part in similar ceremonies with Australia, Samoa, Scotland and Wales at Manchester\u2019s Rates Hall, and Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and Spain welcomed as Tempest Anderson Hall in York\u2019s Museum Gardens.<\/p>\n

In total, 350,000 tickets have been sold for the expanded WRWC 2025 format of 16 nations playing across eight host locations.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note \u2013 Rugby Asia 247 is due to be at all three Japan pool games, but we have already had trains cancelled despite booking well in advance for the Exeter match on 31st August. We hope to still be there, but we assume other fans will also be impacted. This was always a concern for the England RWC as the railways had and have a poor reputation.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first eight teams for the\u00a0Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025 have attended three Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-75338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}