- Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan unveiled its two official mascots on Friday
- They are two Japanese mythical, lion-like creatures named ‘Ren’ and ‘G’
- Both are said to chase away evil and bring happiness in ancient Japanese culture
- They will be ‘spreading the rugby spirit’ in host cities and team camp locations
Next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan has its official mascots: two mythical, lion-like creatures that are said to chase away evil and bring happiness in ancient Japanese culture.
The mascots, named ‘Ren’ and ‘G,’ were unveiled on Friday by local organisers and similar depictions often appear in traditional Japanese theatre.
They will be tasked with ‘spreading the rugby spirit’ in host cities and team camp locations, as well as providing tourist information about Japan to international visitors.
Next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan has unveiled its official mascots ‘Ren’ and ‘G’
The two mythical, lion-like creatures are said to chase away evil and bring happiness
Ren is said to be the parent, while G is the offspring. Organisers revealed the two are genderless.
Rob Abernethy, the general manger of the Japan World Cup, says the winning design was whittled down from about 50 entries.
‘It a very good choice and it has the full endorsement of our board and world rugby,’ Abernethy said.
They will be tasked with ‘spreading the rugby spirit’ in host cities and team camp locations
Ren and G also look like they’d be quite useful during a rolling maul…
The countdown continues to the latest edition of rugby’s showpiece event with New Zealand set to defend their title in the first-ever Asian World Cup.
Organisers were dealt a blow in September when they were told that insufficient progress had been made in key areas by tournament director Alan Gilpin.
Gilpin and his team evaluated services, venues, ticketing and budgets for the tournament, which runs from September 20 to November 2, 2019, and claimed more could be done.