Official Review: Japan Rugby League One 2024-25

Seventeen is now the number of consecutive wins Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights have achieved in a row against Yokohama Canon Eagles after today’s 51-36 success on an incident packed afternoon at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
Although the latest entry to that sequence was a lot more complicated than the final scoreline suggests. The Japan Rugby League One leaders had prop Taiki Fujii sent off for two yellow cards, conceding a penalty try for the
first of them, and had to finish the game with uncontested scrums, but they still found a way to win after having appeared in trouble shortly before halftime.

Despite being rocked by the concession of two early tries to Wild Knights winger Koki Takeyama, the Eagles quickly hit back, with the luckless Fujii a central figure in their resurgence.
The Eagles gained their penalty try when Fujii killed a likely try-scoring movement by making a tackle from an off-side position near the goal-line.

They added a second in his absence when ex-Jersey Reds fullback Brendan Owen scored a minute before the Wild Knights
front-rower returned. Fujii had only just reappeared when he collided with Eagles backrower Amanaki Leleimafi with the accidental head contact seeing the Wild Knights reduced to 14, just two minutes after they had been restored to their full complement.

While a subsequent try by backrower Lekima Nasamila seemed likely to have the Eagles in front at the break, a scuffed penalty goal attempt by Wild Knights flyhalf Kyohei Yamasawa that surprisingly cleared the bar, sent his side to the sheds ahead 25-24, and they never trailed again.

The game’s key moment came early in the second half after centre Dylan Riley had scored the first of his two tries for the afternoon to extend the Wild Knights lead, when the Eagles belatedly had a try chalked off following the intervention of the TMO, who correctly identified an off-the-ball tackle on former (Wellington) Hurricanes centre Vince Aso in the lead up.
The try, which had been converted before it was ruled out, would have had the Eagles trailing by a point. Instead, the gap remained eight, which the Wild Knights had extended to 15 by the finish, after scoring three of the
game’s final five tries.

There was also late drama in today’s second game, as flyhalf Gwangtee Oh nailed an 81st minute conversion, which allowed Mie Honda Heat to steal a 38-37 win over Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars.
The win was the Heats’ third of the season, and the second time they had kicked a goal after the 80th minute to win, having done the same to Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo on the opening weekend.
Dynaboars’ English flyhalf James Grayson contributed 22 of his side’s points, playing a major role as Sagamihara at one stage scored 34 unanswered points, to turn a 12-0 deficit into a 34-12 lead.

Tries by Wallaby fullback Tom Banks in the 55th and 64th minutes brought Honda back into the contest, with backrower Ryota Kobayashi ensuring the outcome would rest on his teammate’s boot after he scored in the final minute. Yesterday saw two tries in the last 10 minutes finally settle a thoroughly entertaining Fuchu Derby in downtown Tokyo, with Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo extending their unbeaten run against local rivals Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath to four after a 43-33 win.

Recent editions of the derby have returned plenty of points, with four of the seven previous matches in the League One era having yielded more than 50, including the remarkable contest in the maiden season which Sungoliath won 60-46. The rivalry’s latest instalment, which was played in sparkling conditions in front of a crowd of just under 14,000, was no different. The two sides traded blows in a tit-for-tat manner for much of the afternoon, with Brave Blossoms winger Jone Naikabula bagging his seventh and eighth tries of the campaign – both long range efforts – as Brave Lupus forged ahead 19-8 after
25 minutes, only to be reeled in as Sungoliath closed to 19-18, 10 minutes later.

Tries by All Black flyhalf Richie Mo’unga and fullback Takuro Matsunga in the final five minutes of the opening period allowed the defending champions to burst clear again, leading 31-18 at the break, but Suntory again responded, bridging the gap to one point after opening the second half with back-to-back tries. Maori All Black midfielder Rob Thompson and hooker Daigo Hashimoto both scored in the last 10 minutes to finally kill
off the Sungoliath challenge, with Hashimoto’s try four minutes from time denying Suntory a bonus point, while also completing a match aggregate of 76, which was 14 points above the contest average of 62 in the last four seasons.

The sixth win of their campaign allowed Brave Lupus to retain second, two points ahead of Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay, who won a dramatic contest at Edogawa Athletic Stadium, blanking Kobelco Kobe Steelers in the second half as they recovered from a 20-3 halftime deficit to win by five. The Spears had won the last five matches between the two sides, and boast an impressive record at their Edogawa home,
but both appeared in jeopardy as former Super Rugby players Gerard Cowley-Tuioti and Ataata Moeakiola contributed two of three first half tries that allowed the visitors to put themselves in control of the game at its mid-point.

Then Dave Rennie’s men disappeared. In a half that could come back to haunt the ex-Wallaby coach at the end of the season, the Steelers conceded two tries in the opening eight minutes of the second period – one by Maori All Black scrumhalf Bryn Hall – before last season’s Brave Blossoms skipper, veteran midfielder Harumichi Tatekawa, rammed his way over to add a third in the 65th minute. The 35-year-old’s try, when converted by Wallaby flyhalf Bernard Foley, put the 2022-23 champions ahead for the first
time.

Kobe could muster no response, with a Foley penalty goal eight minutes from the end completing the stirring 25-20 win. The Black Rams also came from behind, with their schizophrenic campaign adding another chapter when they beat Urayasu D-Rocks 44-22 in the basement battle. Having lost three matches after leading at the end of the opening 40 minutes, the Black Rams successfully overturned a
halftime deficit for the second time this season, with All Black scrumhalf TJ Perenara among their second half try-scorers as Urayasu joined Kobe, Division Two side Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves and Sayama Secom Rugguts of Division Three, each of whom was held scoreless for one half during the weekend.

Former Australian Under-20 centre Semisi Tupou scored twice for Ricoh in the first half in a man-of-the-match performance, while countryman Samu Kerevi was one of three try-scorers for D-Rocks as Greig Laidlaw’s men led 22-15 at the midway point. Kerevi had a mixed afternoon, with the Wallaby midfielder later yellow carded during the second half for a dangerous no
arms tackle. Toyota Verblitz are also in danger, in their case of slipping into the relegation positions, after they were overpowered 33-23 by Shizuoka Blue Revs, despite rugby league convert Joseph Manu grabbing the fifth try of his maiden season in rugby union for the hosts.

The Blue Revs scored the opening two tries and led 14-3 when Manu strolled over off an inside ball from Brave Blossoms veteran Rikiya Matsuda, after a stunning break by impressive backrower Akitu Okui had given Verblitz momentum against the retreating defence. While a penalty goal by Matsuda then drew Verblitz to within a point, 14-13, just after halftime, that was as close as they got with the Blue Revs extending their advantage with three tries, the third by Australian second rower Jack Wright.

Even a try by Brave Blossoms winger Siosaia Fifita, who hit a short ball from All Black scrumhalf Aaron Smith in the 81st minute, was of no consolation for Verblitz, cutting the margin, but not the gap between the two sides on the standings. The failure to secure even a bonus point, and on a run of four straight defeats, leaves Steve Hansen’s men just one point above 11th, and dangerously close to an ‘invitation’ to the post-season Replacement Battle.

Divisions Two & Three

A fifth try of the season from Freddie Burns helped Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi displace Red Hurricanes Osaka at the summit after a 29-14 win over Kamaishi in yesterday’s only Division Two match for the weekend.
The evergreen 34-year-old Englishman, who now leads the point-scoring rankings for the section with 71, touched down just after halftime as the Shuttles extended their 19-14 advantage while Seawaves second rower Satoshi Hatazawa was in the sin bin.

Although the visitors fought hard, they were held scoreless for the last hour, as the Shuttles finished with a five-to-two try-count to secure the extra point for their afternoon’s work. Kurita Water Gush Akishima and Sayama Secom Rugguts were also ‘in’ the tries in Division Three, with Water Gush avenging an opening day defeat against the Rugguts, by administering a 40-33 win that closed the gap on their rivals in the section standings.
The quintessential ‘Game of Two Halves’, Water Gush romped to a 26-0 halftime lead, and the result was never in doubt, despite Sayama scoring three tries in the final 10 minutes to grab an unlikely but valuable bonus point, the concession of which will have been hugely frustrating for Akishima coach, the ex-Wallaby Wycliff Palu.

On the plus side for Palu was the reappearance of capped English flyhalf Piers Francis, who marked his return with a try. Two tries by Yushi Okuda, which took his tally for the season to eight, allowed the Rugguts winger to overtake teammate Chase Tiatia as the division’s leading try-scorer, with the ex-Super Rugby man held try-less for the first time since his arrival in Japan. In Hiroshima, the lethal boot of Division Three’s leading point-scorer, flyhalf Hayato Miyazaki, enabled his side to square the city’s three-match derby series at one apiece, after the Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions held on tenaciously to
secure the prize against Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima, 26-22.

While the nerveless Miyazaki landed six goals from as many attempts, taking his total to 70 in just five matches, the division leaders will be rueing their own wayward goalkicking, raising the flags just once as they out-scored their local rivals by four-tries-to-two but still suffered a first defeat of the season. The result, which came after the Red Regulions had dropped their previous two matches, represented a significant
turnaround after the SkyActivs had romped to a 61-26 win in the first clash between the Honshu-based sides. LeRIRO Fukuoka remain the only side across the entire league yet to win a match, falling to their sixth defeat after a late comeback fell short in their 39-34 loss at the hands of Yakult Levins, who snapped a three-game losing streak with today’s success.

Division One

Saturday February 15
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 43, Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath 33; at Tokyo
Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay 25, Kobelco Kobe Steelers 20; at Tokyo
Shizuoka Blue Revs 33, Toyota Verblitz 23; at Gifu
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo 44, Urayasu D-Rocks 22; at Tokyo

Sunday February 16
Mie Honda Heat 38, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars 37; at Mie
Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights 51, Yokohama Canon Eagles 36; at Tokyo

Division Two

Saturday February 15
Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi 29, Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves 14; at Aichi
Division Three

Saturday February 15
Kurita Water Gush Akishima 40, Sayama Secom Rugguts 33; at Tochigi
Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions 26, Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima 22; at Hiroshima
Sunday February 16
Yakult Levins Toda 39, LeRIRO Fukuoka 34; at Gunma