Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights (1) v Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo (2)
Sunday May 26 at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, 3.05pm (JT) 

Koroibete (Wallabies) v Naikabula (Brave Blossoms). Matusda (Brave Blossoms) v Mo’unga (All Blacks). Cornelsen (Brave Blossoms) v Leitch (Brave Blossoms). Gunter (Brave Blossoms) v Frizell (All Blacks). De Jager (Springboks) v Dearns (Brave Blossoms). De Allende (Springboks) v Tamanivalu (All Blacks). Deans (Crusaders/Wallabies) v

Blackadder (Crusaders/Bath).

Everywhere you look, there are enthralling head-to-head contests in Sunday’s Japan Rugby League One final as the competition’s two best teams, and best coaches, come together for the last dance of a compelling season.

The Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, unbeaten in 17, are chasing a record seventh national title since the semi- professional era in the Japanese game began with the advent of the Top League in 2003.

Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo have won five and will tie their opponents in titles won if they can reverse the result from their last appearance in the decider – in 2015-16 – when they lost 27-26 to this weekend’s opponents.

That result was the second occasion on which the Wild Knights have pipped Brave Lupus in the final, having prevailed 30-21 when they met in at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Although Toshiba’s titles are exceeded only by Panasonic, they have not been champions of Japan since the 2009- 10 season, when they won their fifth consecutive championship, having first tasted success in the 2005-06 competition.

Ominously, they have lost the last nine times that they have collided with the Wild Knights, including their date in March when Brave Lupus suffered their only reverse of the season in a 36-24 defeat. 

Toshiba coach Todd Blackadder has progressively built up the Brave Lupus machine since the former Bath boss arrived in 2019, making improvements in personnel as well as building player confidence.

The first shoots of progress came two years ago when they reached the semi-finals in the maiden edition of Japan Rugby League One, before narrowly missing out last term when the Wild Knights ended their six-game winning run on the last weekend of the regular season to deny them a spot in the final four.

A former All Black and Crusaders captain, Blackadder has had a close association Robbie Deans, having combined with the Wild Knights mentor in a captain/coach combination for Canterbury’s win in the 1997 edition of New Zealand’s national provincial championship, and then in Deans’s maiden season and Super Rugby title as Crusaders coach three years later.

The 2000 success was the first of five Deans had in Super Rugby, a number he has since equalled from his association with the Wild Knights, and he will go past that number if he can once again get the better of his protégé in their fifth meeting as rival coaches.

Deans, who helped progress Blackadder’s coaching career when he brought him on board as an assistant during the Crusaders’ 2007 and title-winning 2008 seasons – subsequently passing on the torch in 2009 – has beaten his former captain on all four occasions that they have opposed each other in Japan.

The Kiwi pair, who are good mates, even hail from the same amateur country rugby club, Glenmark-Cheviot, on the main highway, 90 minutes north of Christchurch.

Among the game’s individual milestones, easily the most significant is that it will be the last game in the remarkable career of Wild Knights hooker Shota Horie.

While much of the international focus from Japan’s various Rugby World Cup adventures has fallen on skipper Michael Leitch, in local eyes Horie is just as big an icon, arguably more, as an ethnic Japanese.

The 37-year-old’s storied career includes four Rugby World Cups and 76 tests for his country, while he last year went past the 150-game mark for the Wild Knights, having squeezed in 18 appearances for the Melbourne Rebels in the 2013 and 2014 Super Rugby seasons, five for Otago in the 2012 national provincial championship, and 26 for the Sunwolves between 2016 and 2019, as well.

Horie made his debut for Japan in 2009.

A decade later, the hooker was awarded player of the match after the Brave Blossoms’ historic win over the world’s then number one ranked side, Ireland, at the home 2019 Rugby World Cup.

With their popular former captain having been part of each of the six titles won by the Wild Knights in the professional era, his teammates will be desperate to see him sign off with a seventh, which would be an appropriate end as one of the legends of the Japanese and world game takes his final bow. 

The big questions to be answered in the final 80 minutes of the league season:

Something’s gotta give: With 32 wins between them (from 34 matches), the two best defences in the land (the Wild Knights have conceded tries at an average of 2.4 per game, Brave Lupus at 3), as well as the two sharpest attacking units (Wild Knights average 6.4 tries a game, Brave Lupus 5), the margins promise to be tight. With fluidity the key to both sides’ game, the league’s turnover ‘king’ Lachlan Boshier could be the man to watch.

Unlucky not to earn All Black selection in his homeland, the ex-(Waikato) Chiefs player from Super Rugby has proved a smart pick up by Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans and leads turnover numbers in the league having snared 16.

Can Richie Mo’unga add to his title collection?:

With seven Super Rugby titles under his belt, the All Black flyhalf has brought the winning mentality to Brave Lupus that Todd Blackadder sought, turning a side for whom making the playoffs was a good result into a machine that is a genuine title contender. While Mo’unga’s class has shown throughout, the team’s resilience and growing belief was illustrated by its unbeaten run during the three matches he missed on bereavement leave, holding a

star-studded Kobelco Kobe Steelers side whose season was on the line to a 40-40 draw, before downing arch-rivals Sungoliath in the season’s second derby a week later. Toshiba’s mental strength came through again as they overpowered Sungoliath in last weekend’s semi-final, retaining their belief and confidence even after Suntory dominated the first period of the game, and led at halftime. Last year, in those circumstances, Toshiba might have cracked. Not this time.

Will Todd Blackadder FINALLY crack the title code?:

For a man who’s record as a professional coach is nothing to be sniffed at, there is a surprising absence from his CV. The ex-All Black captain has never won a title, twice going close during his time with the Crusaders during

narrow losses to Australian opposition, while also producing more than acceptable results during each of his stints 

with Tasman (New Zealand’s national provincial championship), Bath Rugby (England’s Premiership) and Brave Lupus. Blackadder arrived in Japan with Brave Lupus at a low ebb. He has steadily built the club up in the time since, taking them to the semi-finals two years ago, before a narrow miss (fifth) last term. With Michael Leitch back as captain, a second rower in Kiwi-born Warner Dearns that New Zealand would kill to have back, as well as the winning All Black mentality of Mo’unga, and his test teammate Shannon Frizell, Blackadder has never been better armed. Is this his time?

A (G) Lood heart:

 Sentiment rarely plays a part in professional sport, in what is often a cold hearted and calculating, process driven business. This can be so in South African rugby, where ruthlessness is an embedded quality on – and sometimes away – from the field. It has been a key ingredient in the Springboks’ on-going success. Even so, observers would have to be particularly cold hearted not to have the warm ‘fuzzies’ should Lood de Jager get the Japanese title that so narrowly eluded him last year. The big South African, who has been jumping out of his skin this season, joined a Wild Knights outfit that hadn’t lost a game in five years, and promptly experienced defeats, both at home breaking Saitama’s 47-game unbeaten run, and then by two points in the final as the back-to-back champions

were denied a title threepeat. This disappointment paled in comparison to what was to come though as a rare heart disorder, thankfully treatable, was discovered early on in South Africa’s international campaign. It cost him the Rugby World Cup, but the personable second rower has made it back, and been one of the stars of Saitama’s

run to a fourth straight final. De Jager has already won his most important battle regardless of Sunday’s result, and world rugby is all the better for it. 

The magnificent seven?:

After finishing seventh in the first year of the Top League in 2003, the Wild Knights endured four defeats in the tournament final before finally breaking through for their maiden title after an unbeaten campaign in the 2010-11 season. By the time the Top League era ended in 2021, the club had added a further four titles to the collection – 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2021 – which the team then backed up in 2022 with number six after taking out the maiden title of Japan Rugby League One. With six wins and five defeats in title games following last year’s agonizing two-point loss to Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay, the six-time champions will be desperate to avoid levelling up those numbers. 

Japan’s magic million:

After reaching a combined million spectators across its first two seasons, the first of which was heavily impacted by Covid-19, Japan Rugby League One has hit a major milestone in its third edition, topping one million spectators for a single season. The league surpassed the mark in the final round of the regular season, adding over 30,000 to the figure with the first round of the Replacement Battles, along with the Division One semi-finals last weekend.

With Sunday’s final being hosted by the 68,000 capacity National Stadium, which attracted 43,000 for the corresponding game last year, the league is well placed to finish a highly successful season having attracted 1,100,000 spectators, 350,000 more than attended last year. 

Third & Fourth Playoff
Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath (3) v Yokohama Canon Eagles (4)
Saturday May 25 at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, 12pm (JT)

 It’s the game no one wants to play, but the one Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath and Yokohama Canon Eagles find themselves in for the second year running, after their narrow semi-final defeats last weekend.

Yokohama won last year’s playoff 26-20 to finish third, which represented a commendable effort after their return to the semi-finals following a long absence.

The win broke the Eagles’ nine-game losing streak against Sungoliath, and they made it two-in-a-row this year after a thrilling fightback from a 35-10 halftime deficit to win one of the games of the season, 37-35.

Unusually, both sides enter the contest having lost their last three, with Suntory winless in four after their run was started by a 31-31 draw with Shizuoka Blue Revs in mid-April and updated with the 28-20 loss to Brave Lupus last Sunday.

After running the Wild Knights so close in a 20-17 defeat, consecutive thirds would provide the rising Eagles with some compensation, especially as semi-final qualification itself had looked tenuous at various stages of their season.

While a semi-final finish would be considered a reasonable return by most clubs, for Suntory a second consecutive absence from the final is a blow, even though they produced a stirring semi-final performance in the third Fuchu derby, after a challenging season where they have missed international stars Cheslin Kolbe and Sam Cane for large periods.

Beaten by the Wild Knights in each of the final Top League and inaugural Japan Rugby Leage One title games, the memory of the last time Sungoliath were crowned champions of Japan is slipping further into the distance, with a lot having happened in the world since 2016-17 when they beat Panasonic 15-10 in the championship game.

Third place was not their ambition when the season kicked off, but it is still up for grabs, as are places in the Brave Blossoms, with the playoff a last chance for all the on-field participants to audition for places in Eddie Jones’s squad.

 The Replacement Battle – Part II

After last season’s heavy two-legged defeat by Hanazono Kintetsu Liners, Division Two champions Urayasu D-Rocks take a nine-point advantage with them as they head to Osaka tomorrow night for the return game.

D-Rocks, who were boosted in the first leg by the return from injury of experienced ex-Wallaby midfielder Samu Kerevi, overturned a 12-7 halftime deficit in Tokyo, holding their Division One opponents scoreless in the second period while they built up their advantage in the series.

Ominously for Kintetsu, home ‘advantage’ hasn’t been kind this season, with the section tailenders having won just once from the eight occasions where they have been the designated home team.

With Quade Cooper having provided the inspiration for Kintesu’s comprehensive victory over D-Rocks in last year’s series, his side will be looking to the Wallaby flyhalf again to lead its salvation, especially as his old mate Will Genia returns after a month off to cook up trouble in their seemingly timeless halves partnership.

Cooper will be closely monitored by Urayasu too though, with the challengers looking to repeat their strategy from last weekend when they succeeded in preventing the 36-year-old’s mercurial talents from having a major impact on the outcome.

While the promotion door is wide open for Urayasu, it is only slightly ajar for NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu and Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi, who are going to have to affect major turnarounds to sneak through it as well, needing to overturn 19 and 18-point deficits respectively in their second legs against Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo and Mie Honda Heat.

Led by four tries from the ex-Argentine captain Pablo Matera, in just his fourth outing of the season after returning from the Rugby World Cup injured, Heat pulled away in the final 13 minutes at Aichi, scoring three tries during a ruinous period that could prove fatal for the Shuttles’ promotion hopes.

Wayne Pivac’s NEC Green Rockets were left counting the cost of their first half against Ricoh, as the Black Rams stormed to a 26-7 lead, with the former Wales coaches’ men unable to erode the margin at all during the second period.

While the Green Rockets did close to 33-21, a try by ex-England backrower Nathan Hughes restored the Black Rams’ 19-point halftime margin, putting them in a strong position to fend off their challenger’s promotion bid.

After doing the damage to Kurita Water Gush Akishima in Tokyo last year, to retain their place in Division Two, Japan Steel Kamaishi Seawaves did it to their opponents in the first leg this time, kicking off the series replay with an imposing 37-19 win near the Iwate seaside.

The 18-point margin should be enough to see off the Wycliff Palu-coached Division Three side in the series, although the ex-Wallaby will be aware that the Seawaves are yet to win a game on their travels this season.

With a fast start, Water Gush could yet give their opponents the wobbles.

Final Division One Points Table 

 Final Division Two Points Table

 Final Division Three Points Table

The Replacement Battle – Second Leg (all kick off times, JT) (Scores from the first leg of the ties in brackets)

Friday May 25
Division Two v One
Hanazono Kintetsu Liners (12) v Urayasu D-Rocks (21); at Osaka, 7pm

Saturday May 26
Mie Honda Heat (57) v Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi (39); at Suzuka, 12pm
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo (40) v NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (21); at Tokyo, 2.30pm 

Division Two v Three
Kurita Water Gush Akishima (19) v Japan Steel Kamaishi Seawaves (37); at Tokyo, 2.30pm

For brief highlights from all matches, please visit:    https://league-one.jp/en/video