The hottest shirt in sports: More than 200,000 Japan Rugby World Cup jerseys sold after team’s incredible run

The remarkable run of the Japanese team in the Rugby World Cup has been one of the big stories of the tournament, and fans are going crazy trying to get their hands on the now-famous red and white hooped jerseys.

The “Brave Blossoms” jerseys have become the must-have attire for rugby fans, whether they’re Japanese or simply just fans of the game, with World Rugby stating that more than 200,000 Japanese replica jerseys have been sold so far during the tournament, with many fans at the main Japan 2019 megastore in Tokyo left disappointed as a result.

Japan’s incredible performance in the tournament has seen them reach the quarter-final stage, which has only increased the level of demand for the jerseys.

"The Japanese jerseys are just selling like crazy," store manager Danny Robinson said on Wednesday.

"We have taken them from the stadiums, as what hasn’t sold at the stadiums is coming back here, we have totally cleaned out Canterbury’s warehouse and we are getting them whenever we can but unfortunately it looks like most of the Japanese jerseys in Japan are sold out.

“If we get a shipment in, we get maybe 200 on the shelf and then suddenly they are gone within two hours, three hours maximum. We have people lining up at the door when they know Japanese jerseys are here.”

It will be interesting to see how strong the demand for Japan merchandise is after the quarter-finals. They face South Africa in the last eight on Sunday in Tokyo.