GLASGOW Warriors, Edinburgh Rugby and Scottish age-group sides could all tour Japan in the coming years after Scottish Rugby further strengthened links with the country ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Yesterday the governing body signed a strategic alliance agreement with the Japanese city of Nagasaki which means the national team will hold a 10-day holding camp there before the showpiece event in three years time.
And Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson wants the link between the two nations to be used fully from now until then.
That will mean coaching and refereeing exchanges, which have already happened in the recent past, continuing and he is exploring a number of other possibilities.
Dodson said: “There will be more exchanges and we are planning that while the delegation from Nagasaki are over here at the moment.
“We are having meetings as we speak, we may send age-grade teams across there while Edinburgh and Glasgow could quite possibly head out there, we are not ruling anything out.
“Pre-season tours are the sort of thing that will be in the mix and it depends on what Nagasaki can host, but we are looking at all those sorts of things and other possibilities.
“There is a whole raft of ideas being looked at and we want to maximise this link-up up to and beyond 2019.
“What we have seen from people from Nagasaki - including businessmen and entrepreneurs - is that they want to be involved with Scottish Rugby and lots more will come out of this in the next three years.”
Meanwhile, it is hoped the holding camp in 2019 will enable the Scotland squad to acclimatise to Japanese conditions and the time differences before heading into their official tournament camp, which is yet to allocated.
Scotland is thought to be the first rugby nation to have put such plans in place so far in advance of the next World Cup.
Scotland team manager Gavin Scott - who has visited Nagasaki on a number of occasions - said: “The logistical preparation for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan is well underway and the confirmation of this camp, with exclusive use of world-class facilities, presents an excellent foundation for our campaign.
“The camp will allow the players adequate time to recover from the journey, acclimatise to the climate and time differences, and prepare mentally and physically for our part in the tournament.”
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