Cities the length and breadth of Japan will host team camps for Rugby World Cup 2019, according to a list announced Friday by the sport's global governing body.
World Rugby said the 20 teams competing in the tournament starting Sept. 20 will utilize 52 camps during the group stage, ranging from Ebetsu in the northernmost island prefecture of Hokkaido to Miyazaki on the southwestern main island Kyushu.
(Rugby World Cup 2019 official mascots Ren, left, and G)
Sites were chosen in consultation with teams after applications were received from 90 cities and prefectures around the country, it said.
A number of sites were added to the original list at the recommendation of World Rugby "to ensure the highest-possible standard of facilities."
Camp sites for the knockout stage of the tournament will be announced later.
In addition to accommodation, every camp will include indoor and outdoor training venues, a swimming pool and a gym.
Tokyo's Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground and the J-Village soccer training center in northeastern Japan's Fukushima Prefecture are the only facilities to be named so far by informed sources.
(Artist impression of J-Village in Fukushima upon renewal)
[Image supplied by Fukushima Prefecture]
Hosts Japan will hold their camps in Hamamatsu, in central Japan's Shizuoka prefecture, plus two locations in Tokyo, one of which has been confirmed as the Prince Chichibu ground.
World No. 1 and perennial tournament favorites New Zealand will hold camps in Tokyo, as well as Urayasu in Chiba Prefecture near the capital, Ichinomiya in central Japan's Aichi Prefecture, and Beppu, in Kyushu's Oita Prefecture.
World No. 9 Argentina will use the J-Village for one of their camps. The center was used as the forward base for dealing with the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
In a statement from World Rugby, president and CEO of the Rugby World Cup 2019 organizing committee Akira Shimazu said all facilities nominated in the application process were "of very high quality" providing teams with "a large range of options."
"Team camps are an essential part of the tournament as these communities are where the qualified teams will train and prepare during the tournament period," Shimazu said.
"We will work closely with the cities/prefectures that were provisionally selected as hosts of a team camp to progress preparations so that the players and team management gathering from all around the world can perform to their optimal level during the tournament."
[Rugby World Cup press release]
