Yokohama Stadium will take over as host for the 2019 World Cup final

World Rugby have announced that Yokohama Stadium is to replace the new National Stadium as the venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Japan.

The tournament will be the first ever Rugby World Cup to be staged in Asia but it was thrown into a degree of doubt when Japan announced that the proposed new 80,000 national stadium, the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympic Games, would not be ready in time for 2019.

But a new plan has now been unveiled which will see the Tokyo Stadium take over as host for the opening ceremony and opening match.

And the final will take place in the 72,000-seater Yokohama Stadium, which was built for the 2002 football World Cup and hosted the final.

World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "These are exciting, unprecedented times for Japan Rugby and this revised roadmap reinforces and reflects the shared vision and mission to deliver a Rugby World Cup that will be great for Japan, great for Asia and great for Rugby."

Japan Rugby 2019 Organising Committee CEO Akira Shimazu added: "We are confident that the selection of the Tokyo Stadium for the opening match and the final in the International Stadium Yokohama will provide a spectacular backdrop for the tournament."

Relations are clearly a lot more conciliatory than in July, when World Rugby requested urgent talks after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tired of the rising costs and public outcry against the National Stadium plans, ordered a scaled-back version, which will not be finished until early 2020.

And a statement read: "World Rugby has approved a revised roadmap to underpin the successful delivery of a ground-breaking Rugby World Cup 2019 that will further the growth of rugby in Japan, across Asia and around the world. 

"Having undertaken a full review and analysis of the hosting model as a consequence of the loss of Tokyo's new National Stadium as a host venue, World Rugby's Executive Committee is satisfied that the revised vision proposed by the Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee, with the full support of the Japan Government, meets the required criteria set by owners Rugby World Cup Limited and the World Rugby Council."

Interest in the sport in Japan has sky-rocketed after the team's shock 34-32 win over dual World Cup winners South Africa in Brighton at the start of the ongoing tournament.

A record 20m viewers tuned in to watch Japan's next match, a loss to Scotland last Wednesday.