Division One

Things are getting desperate for the two-time defending champions.

On a massive weekend for Japan Rugby League One, with several headline acts, the show begins at lunchtime on Saturday when Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo reunite with Kubota Spears in a replay of last season’s final.
The good news for Toshiba is that they won the last time these two teams met.

The bad: that was six defeats ago, with Brave Lupus not having sipped from the cup of success since, after slumping to a last gasp loss to Mie Honda Heat on Sunday in a game they looked to have burgled when Richie Mo’unga landed a penalty goal to nudge them ahead with just three minutes remaining.

The worse: the game will be played at Spears Edoriku Field, a stadium where second-placed Kubota have never lost, seeing off the challenges from the 24 would be conquerors who have tried.

Todd Blackadder’s men have suffered for the loss of two of their key forwards and leaders from the last two seasons, second row Warner Dearns and the injured Shannon Frizell, with the later returning against Kubota after missing all but the opening game of the season.
But discipline has also become a major issue, with Brave Lupus the most penalized team in the league, conceding 167 at a rate of nearly 14 per game.
By contrast, only BlackRams Tokyo (104) and Sungoliath (113) have been better ‘behaved’ than the Spears, who have given up 114 penalties.

It is a testimony to the mid-table congestion that Toshiba are grimly clinging on to their top six spot, five points ahead of seventh-placed Shizuoka BlueRevs, whom themselves ended a barren five-game run by beating Toyota Verblitz 34-24 last time out.

With a difficult match against the league-leading Saitama Wild Knights still to come in the run to the finish line, Toshiba’s margin for error is diminishing by the week as the losses mount up.

The BlueRevs themselves have a difficult assignment ahead, facing a Kobe outfit that received a brutal reality check on the Shunbun no Hi (Vernal Equinox Day) holiday when they were knocked from their perch on top of the table by Yokohama Canon Eagles.
Kobe’s first defeat since opening day adds to an already spicy match-up, after the Kwagga Smith-led BlueRevs beat Dave Rennie’s side twice during the last regular season, only to fall to the new All Black coaches’ charges in the first weekend of the playoffs.

Fresh from back-to-back wins which have lifted them off the bottom of the table, Yokohama will chase number three when they battle a Toyota side which had its own three-game run halted last weekend.
The afternoon will see scrum halves Faf de Klerk and Aaron Smith renew their acquaintance from the test arena, where they faced each other nine times for four wins each and a draw, subsequently meeting twice in League One with the 60-cap Springbok victorious both times.

After being injured on opening day, de Klerk has quickly shown his importance to the Eagles with last weekend’s hattrick against Kobe – in what was just his third appearance of the season – while Smith, the 125-cap All Black, has been at the heart of Toyota’s recent revival.

Although avoiding the post season promotion/relegation series is the main priority for the 11th placed Eagles, Verblitz are still in the title mix despite their loss to the BlueRevs, six points astern of the playoffs’ positions with six games of the regular season to play.

Level on points with Verblitz, Honda have also given themselves a chance, although with a tough run to the finish line which includes games against each of Sungoliath, Kubota and Kobe, victory over bottom-placed Urayasu D-Rocks on Sunday is non-negotiable if the door to the playoffs is to remain open.

After eight consecutive defeats, the chances of Urayasu avoiding an appearance in the Replacement Battle for a fifth straight season seem slim, even if the margin to 10th-placed Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars is a not insurmountable six points.

The Dynaboars, who chalked up their fourth win of the campaign after going back-to-back against Sungoliath, are one of four teams to have posted four victories, although a lack of bonus points has probably left them with too much to do, eight points from the playoffs positions.

Matching or bettering their most wins for a season (six) is a more realistic target, and one that recent
performances suggest they are more than capable of achieving, although adding to their tally against fifth-placed BlackRams Tokyo is not going to be easy.

The BlackRams had a four-game winning streak terminated by the Wild Knights, who have suffered just one defeat all season, and returned to the top of the standings after their convincing 31-7 win.
Atsushi Kanazawa’s charges have been impressive in their three wins since being beaten at Kobe, although Sungoliath ran them close in January, going under by a point.

Given that both sides are virtually assured of a place in the post-season barring some unforeseen calamity, the game is almost a free hit for Sungoliath, whose chances of bridging the 13-point gap for a top two finish are unlikely.

While some of the other contests this weekend carry more weight towards the final makeup of the playoffs, this remains one of the glamour fixtures of any Japanese season, with the Wild Knights and Sungoliath sharing 11 national titles between them.
Japanese rugby royalty, Sungoliath have found the going tougher in the post-Covid era, which is reflected by their record against their old rivals, with the Wild Knights having won the last seven, which includes victories in the final Top League and maiden League One finals.

Ending that run would be a timely boost for Cheslin Kolbe and his teammates, whose momentum has been checked by this month’s losses to the Dynaboars.

Division Two & Three

There is a full round of matches in Division Two, while the top two in Division Three, SkyActivs Hiroshima and SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS return to action as their race for the section title intensifies.