Those Irish Rugby players not selected to travel to South Africa with the British and Irish Lions this July will at least have some representative rugby to look forward to after the confirmation of International matches against Japan and the United States.
The Lions will play against Japan at Murrayfield the week before the surprise package of the 2019 Rugby World Cup come to the Aviva Stadium on July 3rd.
Japan came from 12-3 down after 20 minutes against Ireland at the last World Cup to win 19-12 and cause one of the upsets of the tournament.
One week later on Saturday 10th July Ireland will host the USA in Dublin. Ireland last faced the USA in the Aviva Stadium in November 2018 where Ireland ran out 57-14 winners.
It is hoped that fans may be able to make a return to the stadium for these fixtures which are being organised to replace the lost tour to Fiji that had originally been planned for the summer.
“We are delighted to be in a position to announce these two fixtures so soon after the disappointment of the Fiji tour cancellation,” said Irish Rugby’s David Nucifora.
“This is a very important window for the development of the group and we are grateful to both Japan, the US and World Rugby for facilitating these games in July.”
English Rugby plans to host upwards of 40,000 fans at Twickenham for summer fixtures in the same month.
Vodafone, the principal partner of Irish Rugby is among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
Sport for Business Partners
