Pressure heaped on Eddie Jones as England fans have snapped up massive amount of Japan 2019 tickets

England supporters are expecting huge things from Eddie Jones’ side if the level of ticket sales for Japan 2019 is anything to go by. 

Not since 2003 have the English lifted the World Cup, but they are set to be visiting team with the biggest following when the latest finals start in the Far East in six months’ time. 

Nearly a quarter of the 600,000 tickets already purchased by non-Japan based buyers - in excess of 110,000 match tickets - were bought by people based in England who will travel with high hopes that the victory of 16 years ago in Australia can be repeated.

With Rugby World Cup 2019 ticket sales entering their final stages, international fans are set to make up around 33 per cent of total ticket sales of around 1.8 million.

Fans from England, Australia and Ireland make up the top three international ticket purchasers, while USA and The Netherlands are included in top 10. 

(Continue reading below...)

The remaining 160 countries comprise a total of 19.7 per cent with fans coming to Japan quite literally from the four corners of the globe, including as far away as Antarctica.

Based on current ticket purchase data from the priority and general sales phases, as well as official travel and hospitality programmes, England fans are expected to make up 23.9 per cent of the foreign fan contingent, followed by Australia with 15.6 per cent and Ireland with 7.9 per cent. 

The sixth largest international group will be fans from the USA, with 4.6 per cent, and The Netherlands round off the top 10 list with 2.5 per cent.

Akira Shimazu, CEO of the Japan Rugby World Cup 2019 organising committee, said: "With less than six months to go before Asia’s first Rugby World Cup kicks off in Japan, it’s encouraging to see such an incredible response from international fans. 

“While we expected to see large numbers coming from the traditional rugby nations, I’m thrilled that both the USA and The Netherlands are in the top 10 countries of international ticket purchases.

"From the very beginning, we set out to make Rugby World Cup 2019 a truly ground-breaking tournament, so to have such strong interest from fans in rugby’s frontier markets like the USA and The Netherlands, as well as countries like Germany, Spain and Brazil is absolutely wonderful. 

“Asian nations are also well represented with more than three per cent of international fans coming from countries neighbouring Japan.”

The next opportunity for fans to purchase tickets begins on 18 May 2019 with first-come-first-served ticket sales resuming.