Division One

Time is running out for Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz and Kieran Crowley’s Mie Honda Heat.

If either ex-test coach is to guide their charges into the Japan Rugby League One playoffs, they can ill afford defeats against BlackRams Tokyo and Kubota Spears respectively in what could be the defining weekend of the race to the finals.

Toyota’s impressive charge into the calculations, after a run of five wins in six, hit a major bump in the road against Kobelco Kobe Steelers and their hattrick-scoring rookie fullback Shunsuke Uenobo, with the 38-24 defeat pushing the playoff hopes of Hansen’s charges to the edge.

With the gap between the seventh-placed Verblitz and sixth-placed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo currently six points, and just two games remaining after this weekend, Toyota will have run out of road on their finals chances should they emerge pointless from their date with the BlackRams on Sunday after the champions have taken maximum points off Yokohama Canon Eagles, 24 hours earlier.

Team goals aside, individual bragging rights are at stake in Tokyo too, as former long-time All Black scrumhalves and teammates, Aaron Smith (Verblitz) and TJ Perenara (BlackRams) go head-to-head.

That match-up is one of three over the weekend which see test teammates in direct confrontation.
Ex-All Blacks captain Sam Cane will size up his former international backrow colleague Ardie Savea when he comes from the bench as Tokyo Sungoliath visit Kobelco Kobe Steelers, while Springbok backrowers Jasper Wiese and Kwagga Smith will be at the back of the scrum, and captain, their respective sides when Urayasu D-Rocks play Shizuoka BlueRevs.

As with Toyota, the promising momentum Crowley’s Honda were building in their bid to enter the playoffs conversation was dented last Friday after their three-match winning run ended in an astonishing 49-5 defeat by the Black Rams.

The former Italy coach, who led his side to several notable upsets during his term in charge of the Azzurri, will need to draw on all those motivational powers to ready his men for an appointment with a Kubota Spears outfit who beat them 45-21 in early January, having at one stage led 45-0.
Honda’s task has been made even harder by having to visit Spears Edoriku Field, where Kubota have never lost in League One, having won all 24 matches.

After holding off a determined Tokyo Sungoliath challenge last weekend, the Spears have been boosted by the return from the bench of Bernard Foley, who was forced to miss that match after limping off during the loss against Toyota two weeks earlier.
The Wallaby flyhalf is locked in a battle with Ichigo Nakakusu for the highest individual point-scoring honours, with Foley’s 150-point tally being exceeded during his enforced absence, when the BlackRams pivot scored 19 points against Honda to advance his total to 169.
Consistently among the highest points collectors in the land, Foley headed the table three years ago when the Spears won their maiden title.

Toshiba kick off against Canon at the same time as Honda’s match begins, with the back-to-back wins over Urayasu D-Rocks and Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars having placed Brave Lupus – despite their seven consecutive defeats between January and March – potentially within five points of playoffs confirmation.

Should flyhalf Richie Mo’unga and his teammates take maximum points against the 10th-placed Yokohama Eagles, while Honda and Toyota come up empty, the last two weeks of the regular season will become about tuning up for the finals for the All Black and his teammates.

Yokohama climbed above the two promotion/relegation series places by beating Urayasu, but they may be forgiven for looking past the defending champions, with one eye on their date with the 11th-placed Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars on Sunday week.

That match shapes as a virtual final for the avoidance of end-of-season relegation jeopardy, with Sagamihara up against it on Saturday, visiting the league-leading Saitama Wild Knights.
The home side, who beat the Dynaboars by 30-points last time, have terrorized the men from Kanagawa since the advent of a nationwide league in Japan.

So much so, that letting in 33 points in December’s game was an actual improvement for Sagamihara, who had averaged a concession of 57 points per outing through the seven previous meetings between the teams.

After failing to achieve a try-scoring bonus point during their come-from-behind 34-24 win over Shizuoka, the Wild Knights hold just a one-point lead over Kobe on the championship standings, with Kubota three further back.

With second playing third on the final weekend of the regular season, two wins from their last three matches will ensure the league’s inaugural champions of a top two finish, and a bye during the first weekend of the playoffs.

While Kobe are easily the highest try-scorers in the league, having scored a whopping 25 more than the only side above them on the championship point’s table, it will have been his side’s mental strength that will have impressed Dave Rennie most in the defeat of Toyota.

The incoming All Black mentor’s club charges could easily have got the wobbles after their opponents closed to within four points just after halftime.
Instead, they held Verblitz scoreless for 37 minutes, while advancing by 17 points themselves, which rendered Toyota’s 80th minute try inconsequential to either the outcome or the championship table.
Kobe can expect another test from a Sungoliath outfit that will be desperate after losing four-in-a-row for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

Although that statistic doesn’t make for great reading, Cheslin Kolbe’s side put themselves in a position to win each of those games, eventually going down by three, two, seven and five points against the Dynaboars, Wild Knights, Heat and Spears respectively.

Just two points separated the sides in January when Brave Blossoms flyhalf Seungsin Lee goaled an 80th minute penalty to get Kobe home, 22-20.
It was one of five games, amongst their eight defeats, where Sungoliath have achieved a bonus point for finishing within seven points or less; crucial points that have made their path to the finals easier.

Life is getting no easier for Shizuoka, whose finals flame was almost totally extinguished despite their valiance against the Wild Knights, where they at one stage led 21-7 before succumbing.
The defeat left the BlueRevs 10 points behind Brave Lupus, with a possible 15 left to play for.
While still mathematically possible – sixth-placed Sungoliath made the cut with 40 last term – even three bonus point wins may not be enough to get Shizuoka through, as the results of their main playoffs rivals would also be a factor.
Their mission continues tomorrow night against D-Rocks, with the pair playing for high stakes.

Defeat will remove the BlueRevs from the final’s equation while for Urayasu, a 12th straight loss would potentially confirm for them what has long seemed inevitable, as the first Division One side inked in for next month’s Replacement Battle.

Division Two

Leaders Hanazono Kintetsu Liners and Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi will be checked in as Division Two’s representatives for that series should Manie Libbok’s Hanazono beat third-placed Shimizu Corporation Koto Blue Sharks, who currently trail the top two by 12 log points.