The IRB Junior World Championship was held in five locations across Japan from 5 to 21 June 2009. During the championship period, 16 participants (Pool A: New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland, and Uruguay; Pool B: England, Samoa, Scotland, and Japan; Pool C: South Africa, France, Italy, and Fiji; Pool D: Wales, Australia, Canada, and Tonga) staged heated and competitive matches. New Zealand met England in the final, beating them by a score of 44-28, and claimed the title. Japan, though fighting well with England, Samoa, Scotland, and Italy, lost all games, resulted in finishing in the 15th place after defeating Uruguay in a consolation final.
In spite of poor performance of the Japan U20 national team, the championship itself attracted 100,000 spectators and was broadcast on TV to 122 nations across the world. These brought high marks to Japan's capacity for organization and operation of the championship. At the summary press conference held at the JRFU on June 22, IRB tournament director, Philippe Bourdarias, praised the JRFU, saying: “I totally believe that this championship was hailed a success for the JRFU as well as the IRB. Attracting 100,000 fans as spectators is such an outstanding achievement. We also received good feedback about TV broadcasting. The JRFU organized and operated this championship with a great success, totally beyond our requests made at outset.” The success of this championship must have given momentum to the JRFU to bid to host the 2019 RWC in Japan. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the related parties who spared no effort for this event.
In spite of poor performance of the Japan U20 national team, the championship itself attracted 100,000 spectators and was broadcast on TV to 122 nations across the world. These brought high marks to Japan's capacity for organization and operation of the championship. At the summary press conference held at the JRFU on June 22, IRB tournament director, Philippe Bourdarias, praised the JRFU, saying: “I totally believe that this championship was hailed a success for the JRFU as well as the IRB. Attracting 100,000 fans as spectators is such an outstanding achievement. We also received good feedback about TV broadcasting. The JRFU organized and operated this championship with a great success, totally beyond our requests made at outset.” The success of this championship must have given momentum to the JRFU to bid to host the 2019 RWC in Japan. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the related parties who spared no effort for this event.