1979: 81st Season

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[JRFU] Yuzuru Abe Becomes the JRFU Chairperson: Yuzuru Abe was recommended as the ninth chairperson at the board meeting on June 30. Tokishiro Shiina was recommended as the honorary chairperson.
[Rules] Rules such as "two points by a goal after a try are displayed separately from points by a try", "fair catches must be within 22 meters from the own area" and "the touch judge can appeal a misconduct or dangerous play to the referee" were defined.
[Japan] The England team, against which Japan played a very close game during their visit in September 1971, showed another dramatic come-from-behind match in the last minute against Japan during this visit. In the first test match at Hanazono, which head coach Hisashi Yokoyama challenged, they came from behind just before full-time when Japan was about to secure the victory. The Japan national team held back their tears losing by a score of 21-19. In the second test match, the Japan national team also fought quite well but lost by a score of 38-18.
* Cambridge University came to Japan. The Japan national team was defeated by Cambridge 28-19 in the test match. As for the other matches, the Japan national student team was defeated 33-14, Kintetsu lost 46-10, and the Japan selection team was defeated 32-9 and 31-9, resulting in no wins during their five matches.
* The New Zealand university selection team came to Japan with three wins and one draw. The Japan national team had a test match against NZU on 30 March 1980 and held them to a 25-25 draw. The Japan national student team was defeated 25-18, the Japan selection team lost 72-6, and the Kyushu team lost 38-3.
* The Japan national team toured Hong Kong on April 11 and had a warm-up match but lost to Hong Kong for the first time by a score of 23-17.
[Japan Rugby Championship] In the 16th Japan Rugby Championship, Nippon Steel Kamaishi overwhelmed Meiji 32−6 and claimed their third championship title for two consecutive years.
[University] In the 16th All-Japan University Rugby Championship, Meiji beat Doshisha by a narrow margin of 6-3 to claim the title for the fourth time and the first time in two years. In the 50th Kanto Inter-University Rugby Tournament, Meiji won all their nine matches claiming their 15th tournament title and for the first time in two years. In the 13th Kanto University Rugby League, Hosei had six wins and one draw claiming their fifth league title (ninth in their career) and for the first time in eight years. In the 51st Kansai University Rugby League, Doshisha claimed their 29th league title for four years in a row, extending their record by winning all their seven matches. In Kyushu, Fukuoka Institute of Technology won both the league and university championship for the tenth time and six consecutive years.
[Company] In the 32nd Japan Company Rugby Football Championship, Kamaishi beat Tokyo Sanyo 27−13 claiming their fourth championship title for two consecutive years.
[International] On 12 April 1979, All-Nippon Steel toured Australia with two wins and three losses. In April, the Japan U18 national team took their fifth tour of New Zealand with six wins and no losses.