Japan fans prove they are the best supporters in world sport at Rugby World Cup

The best supporters in sport have been revealed at the 2019 Rugby World Cup after a series of incredibly classy moments in Japan.

Japan fans are the best on the planet.

We’re just three days into the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but a clear winner has already emerged — hosts Japan.

An extraordinary series of moment from the opening weekend of action showed local fans belting out foreign national anthems as they were played before group stage matches.

Japan fans were spotted coming prepared with lyric sheets for almost every national anthem played over the weekend with the locals belting out everything from Advance Australia Fair to Namibia, Land Of The Brave.

Entire seating sections at World Cup stadiums had local fans lending their voices to foreign national anthems. It’s just one of the reasons Australia’s win over Fiji reportedly felt like a home game for the Aussies at the Sapporo Dome.

Japanese supporters were also out in force for Ireland’s 27-3 thrashing of Scotland on Sunday in Yokohama.

A photo of Japanese locals singing Ireland’s contentious Ireland’s Call anthem while holding up lyrics sheets quickly spread across the internet in the wake of Ireland’s first-up win.

The photo showed the pieces of paper carried by fans included the words for the entire Irish anthem, which is used for Irish rugby games outside of the Republic, replacing The Soldier’s Song, which is used for matches on home soil.

Japan supporters are the best fans in world sport.

The classy performance from Japanese locals was played out across a countless number of weekend games with the country truly swept up in World Cup fever.

Their support was so noticeable, Ireland, New Zealand and England were among the teams to approach Japanese supporters after their games and thank them for their barracking efforts.

Fans singing the national anthems of rivals is just one of the many classy scenes Japanese supporters were at the centre of since the tournament opened on Friday night.

Japan fans cheer on their team.

True to reputation, Japan fans were also spotted cleaning up their own stadium following their opening win over Russia.

Fans picking up plastic bags full of trash helped leave the Ajinomoto Stadium spotless after the opening ceremony — just as they famously did during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Even before the tournament kicked off, Japanese fans at Kitakyushu Stadium left Welsh players stunned when 15,000 supporters showed up to the team’s training session and performed a rousing edition of the country’s national anthem Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land Of My Fathers).

Around 15000 Japanese people singing Wales national anthem as they wait for team. Stadium full. Crazy. pic.twitter.com/dIWxpKxb6N

— Ian Gordon (@iangor) September 16, 2019

There is more than five weeks left for the fans of other countries to challenge for the title of the best supporters at the Rugby World Cup, but right now Japan is clearly the world benchmark and it’s hard to see that changing, especially if the Cherry Blossoms can reach the knock-out stage as expected.