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'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 was played at the Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Stadium, in Osaka, on the Friday, 24 September 1971, (Vernal Equinox Day, 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 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 in Tokyo 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. Japan then came back hard in the second half, getting three points of their own, with a penalty scored by flanker Yoshiharu Yamaguchi. 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.
Opposing Team For Against Date Venue Status RefsAll Waseda University56421 September 1971Chichibu, TokyoTour matchJapan271924 September 1971Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Stadium, OsakaTour matchJapan6328 September 1971Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, TokyoTour matchHong Kong26030 September 1971Hong Kong Stadium, Hong KongTour matchSingapore3993 October 1971Jalan Besar Stadium, SingaporeTour matchSri Lanka40116 October 1971Longden Place, ColomboTour matchSri Lanka3468 October 1971Longden Place, ColomboTour match
Touring party Staff Manager: Bob Weighill Assistant Manager: John Burgess Technical Advisor: Don Rutherford
Players Peter Rossborough Peter Glover Bob Lloyd Jeremy Janion Rodney Webb Dick Cowman Nigel Starmer-Smith Fran Cotton Peter Wheeler Jim Broderick Chris Ralston Roger Uttley David Robinson Tony Neary Charlie Hannaford John Finlan John Gray Mike Hannell Peter Larter Jan Webster David Roughley Budge Rogers (captain) Chris Wardlow
References