For more information on the tournament, please visit THE CROSS-BORDER RUGBY 2024 website. 
(https://league-one.jp/lp/cross-border/2024/ticket_en/) 

Attention all rugby fans.

Here’s your chance to be a part of history as clubs from Japan Rugby League One take on their Super Rugby counterparts from New Zealand over two weekends of pulsating cross border action.

This will be the first time clubs from the Japanese league have tested themselves against their New Zealand counterparts, with the teams involved having had long and distinguished histories in local competition.

Japan Rugby League One champions Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay will lead the Japanese challenge to New Zealand sides, the Blues and the Gallagher Chiefs.

They are joined for cross border by their fellow semi-finalists from last term, Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath and Yokohama Canon Eagles, who will each also have the opportunity to measure themselves against leading Super Rugby opposition.

Cross border opens on February 3 when Sungoliath tackle the Blues, while the Wild Knights face the Chiefs.

Seven days later, the Spears will meet the Chiefs, while the Eagles take on the Blues.

The Chiefs are two-time winners of Super Rugby, having won the title in 2012 and 2013, when coached by current Kobelco Kobe Steelers coach Dave Rennie, and captained by Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath loose forward Sam Cane.

They were the beaten finalists in last year’s competition.

Among the stars they can call on is All Black flyhalf Damien McKenzie, who was the leading point-scorer in the maiden season of Japan Rugby League One two years ago, when he played for Sungoliath.

The All Blacks, hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, loose forward Luke Jacobson, lock Tupou Vaa’i, midfielders Anton Lienert-Brown and Quinn Tupaea and outside backs Etene Nanai-Seturo and Shaun Stevenson are other Chiefs stars to look out for.

The Chiefs also include flyhalf Kaleb Trask, who helped Mie Honda Heat to promotion in the last Japan Rugby League One, along with loose forward Kaylum Boshier, whose elder brother Lachlan is a key member of the Wild Knights.

The Blues won the maiden Super Rugby title in 1996, winning again in 1997 and 2003, as well as the trans-Tasman Super Rugby Pacific title in 2021.

They were a semi-finalist last season.

The Auckland-based side can call on backline talent such as All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke, centre Rieko Ioane, flyhalf Stephen Perofeta and halfback Finlay Christie, while their fellow All Blacks, loose forwards Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu, lock Patrick Tuipulotu, and props Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Angus Ta’avao, are key members of the Blues forward pack.

Tuipulotu has previously played in Japan for Toyota Verblitz.

The New Zealand stars will clash head on with many of Japan Rugby League One’s biggest names, with the Spears featuring Wales fullback Liam Williams, Australian flyhalf Bernard Foley and New Zealand hooker Dane Coles, while the Wild Knights can call on Australian winger Marika Koroibete, South African midfielder Damien de Allende, and his countryman, lock Lood de Jager.

Sungoliath boast South African outside back Cheslin Kolbe and Argentine flyhalf Nicola Sanchez, while South African centre Jesse Kriel, his countryman, halfback Faf de Klerk, and Australian lock Matthew Phillip, are among the stars on call for the Eagles.

Each of the Japanese sides also feature several promising non-capped foreign players, alongside the best of Japan’s established test stars, and rising talents.

Tickets will go on sale to each club's fan club from Wednesday 27 December and to the general public from Thursday 11 January 2024. 

There will also be special tickets for elementary, junior high and high school students for 500 yen (Category 4) for all matches, 

so please take this opportunity to visit the stadium with your family and friends and experience world-class rugby.

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For more information on the tournament, please visit THE CROSS-BORDER RUGBY 2024 website. 
(https://league-one.jp/lp/cross-border/2024/ticket_en/) 

February 3, 2024
12:00　TOKYO SUNGOLIATH vs. Blues
@Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Stadium(Tokyo)

February 4, 2024
14:30　SAITAMA WILD KNIGHTS vs. Gallagher Chiefs
@Kumagaya Rugby Stadium (Saitama)

February 10, 2024    
12:10 YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES vs. Blues
@Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium (Kanagawa)

February 10, 2024
14:30　Kubota Spears vs. Gallagher Chiefs
@Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Stadium(Tokyo)