Incoming All Black boss Dave Rennie had a sendoff to remember as Kobelco Kobe Steelers beat Kubota Spears 22-13 under grey skies in the final of the fifth edition of Japan Rugby League One.

Today’s title, secured in front of a crowd of 50,451 at Tokyo’s National Stadium, was the Kansai-based side’s first in eight years, and their maiden championship of the League One era.

After breaking a seven-game losing streak against Kubota last month, the win allowed Kobe to notch up consecutive wins against the Spears for the first time in 18 years, while becoming champions for just the third time since a nationwide league first began in Japan in 2003.

Although the result was in doubt until the 79th minute, when Brave Blossoms flyhalf Seungsin Lee slotted his sixth goal of the afternoon, the nine point gap between the teams represented the biggest winning margin in the league’s championship game, with the previous four tournament finales all having been close affairs, decided by six, two, four and five points respectively.

Despite their semi-final battering by the Saitama Wild Knights, and the loss of key forwards Malcolm Marx and Tyler Paul to injury, Kubota started positively, dominating the first half in both possession and territory.
They led 13-3 after 26 minutes following their only try, scored from close range by prop Keijiro Tamefusa shortly after their outstanding one-cap All Black fullback, Shaun Stevenson, had produced a superb 50/22 kick to retain possession near the Kobe goal-line.

Kobe responded four minutes later, with two of their best performers of the season combining to post their only try, as boom fullback Shunsuke Uenobo putting a deft kick in behind the advancing Kubota defence, which winger Inoke Burua chased up, scoring his 15th try of a memorable season.

The 27-year-old Fijian was a massive influence on the Kobe edge throughout the campaign, scoring or assisting in 19 tries during the final 15 matches.
Rennie’s men had entered the decider having scored the most tries in the season, posting 123 from 19 matches at 6.47 per game, but it was their defence that won the day in the final, most notably in the first half when they were able to largely deny the Spears momentum despite the latter monopolizing possession.

While Kubota’s hard-working forward pack got stuck in, the concession of seven turnovers in the opening period blunted their attack, while highlighting the impact of the loss of Marx.

Without the South Africans throwing accuracy, the Spears lineout struggled, while the loss of his ability over the ball at the breakdown, in protecting clean ball, as well as pilfering it off opponents, helped Kobe to slow their ball delivery.

Although Kobe have always been among the leaders in the try-scoring stakes, heading the standings this term after having finished third last year, and second the season before, the aspect of the package that improved notably after Rennie’s arrival was their defensive organization.
Kobe had let in 136 tries from 29 matches at 4.6 per game in the two seasons prior to the former Wallaby coach taking charge, but this improved to an overall average of 3.6 on his watch (206 from 57), with the mean dropping to 3.5 from the 20 matches of their title-winning campaign.

Having weathered Kubota’s first half assault, Kobe gradually gained the upper hand, controlling possession and field position as they tightened the screw through the accuracy of Lee, who was faultless off the tee, kicking 17-points.

While he couldn’t add to his season high of 17 tries, it was an indication of the enormous contribution from Kobe’s skipper, Brodie Retallick, that he picked up the man-of-the-match award ahead of his nerveless goal kicking flyhalf.

Retallick’s former test colleague Ardie Savea also had a huge game, making the most of Marx’s absence to be a menace for Kubota at the breakdown, while also carrying with venom to get his side on the front foot for most of the second period.

The 32-year-old All Black backrower hasn’t ruled out a return to Kobe before he hangs up his boots, but one face that won’t be seen again is former Wallaby flyhalf Bernard Foley, who contributed eight points in his final outing for the Spears to extend his tally from 73 appearances, to a League One record 785, at an average of 10.7 per game.

The 36-year-old, who joined Kubota after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, has been linked to a return to Super Rugby with the NSW Waratahs.
Former skipper and Brave Blossoms veteran Pieter ‘Lappies’ Labuschagne also took his final bow for Kubota, remarkably one of three alumni from Bloemfontein’s noted rugby nursery Grey’s College, to feature for the Spears in the final, with the South African-born backrower being joined by second rower Merwe Olivier and centre Rikus Pretorius.

The Wild Knights finished third, holding off a fast-finishing Tokyo Sungoliath 26-19 in an entertaining playoff.

While South African star Cheslin Kolbe was a late withdrawal from what would have been his last League One appearance, Sungoliath veteran Yutaka Nagare played the final game of his career, with yesterday’s match being the former Brave Blossoms scrumhalf’s 79th since the competition began.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus would have been happy to see his test second rower, Lood de Jager, come through an encouraging 57 minutes unscathed in his first outing since South Africa’s test against France in November.

Final Crowd Surpasses 50,000 Again

Today’s crowd of 50,451 at the National Stadium represented the third consecutive final in which the 50,000-mark has been surpassed in Japan Rugby League One.
It also meant the combined attendance for the five finals in League One to date was slightly above 230,000.

The record for the largest crowd was set in the 2023-24 decider when 56,486 patrons were at the National Stadium in Tokyo to see Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo edge out Saitama Wild Knights in a cliff-hanger to win their maiden title.
The 33,604 crowd for the final of the league’s inaugural edition, where the season had been affected by the global pandemic, is its smallest gathering for the championship game.