Japanese rugby fans support Wales by waving Leeks during World Cup semi-final

27 October 2019, 17:03

Twitter has gone wild for a group of Japanese rugby fans who brought leeks along to Wales' World Cup semi-final match against South Africa.

Wales may have crashed out of the World Cup semi-final earlier on Sunday, but fans can be rest assured they have left behind their cultural stamp on Japan.

Twitter users could not contain themselves after spotting the group dancing away holding a their leeks aloft just after half-time in the International Stadium in Yokohama on Sunday.

Alex Robbins said: "Please tell me someone else just saw the Japanese fans in the audience dancing and waving leeks and it wasn’t just some sort of fever dream hallucination I was having."

And Wales fan Lisa Francis said: "If nothing else goes our way today, I’ll always have the memory of the Japanese fans waving their leeks to Zombie Nation in the crowd. Amazing hosts as always!"

In a true sign of how sporting events can bring people together, another man dressed in support of South Africa joined in with the festivities.

Wales' World Cup dream ended today. as they made another painful semi-final exit after losing 19-16 to South Africa.

The Springboks will face England in next Saturday's final.

For Wales, who were semi-final casualties against France eight years ago when captain Sam Warburton was sent off, it proved an agonising experience.

Their hopes of confirming a first all-northern hemisphere Rugby World Cup final were dashed and they also lost wing George North and prop Tomas Francis to first-half injuries.

Wales now play New Zealand in the third and fourth place play-off. It will be head coach Warren Gatland's final game at the helm before he steps down after 12 years.

England and South Africa, though, will contest a second final 12 years after the last one that the Springboks narrowly clinched.