Japan Rugby League One Round Six Preview

Fresh from their first win of the season, at the fifth attempt, Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath coach Kosei Ono has had an extra week to prepare for their next challenge: a trip to Yamaha Stadium to tackle the competition’s most improved outfit, Shizuoka Blue Revs.

After finishing eighth in each of the first three seasons of Japan Rugby League One, confidence is justifiably high in Shizuoka with the Kwagga Smith-led side heading into the bye weekend in third off the back of a stunning six-point win over Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, which ended the defending champions’ 13-match unbeaten streak. While Saturday’s visitors arrive in an unfamiliar 10th, Sungoliath are just three points off the last qualifying position for the playoffs and have not lost in the last 14 matches they have played against the Blue Revs.

One of the wins in that sequence came on their last visit to Shizuoka, where they scored two tries in the final 10 minutes to snatch a 29-25 win, with Springbok Cheslin Kolbe and All Black Sam Cane both contributing tries.
While neither will feature on Saturday, 31-year-old fullback Kotaro Matsushima – like Ono a veteran of Japan’s stunning upset win over South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup – will step out for the first time this season.
Last year’s second fixture between the two sides saw the lead change hands five times as a pulsating afternoon ended in a 31-31 draw.

Ironically, that was the Blue Revs’ second draw in seven days, an experience Suntory have had themselves this season. Elsewhere, top plays bottom as winless Urayasu D-Rocks trek to Kumagaya for the first time in three years to meet the unbeaten Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, who have lost at home just once since the league began.

Last weekend’s win at Fukuoka saw Wild Knights and Springbok second rower Lood de Jager make his on-field return after
suffering a major shoulder injury in last year’s final, and the visit of D-Rocks provides an opportunity to increase his playing
minutes as he builds towards full fitness.

The Wild Knights’ latest success came at the expense of Toyota Verblitz, who will be pleased to move on from their bogey team as they host the inform Yokohama Canon Eagles.
With Faf de Klerk the fulcrum from scrumhalf, and his international teammate Jesse Kriel a key part of a razor-sharp attack that has scored 140 points in the last three weeks, the Eagles are flying, rising to fourth, five places and seven points above Saturday's opponents.

Kriel has an interesting task ahead, taking on Toyota’s prized midfield recruit Joseph Manu, who appears to be getting better with every outing as the former rugby league star adapts to his new code, and made a difference coming off the bench last time, scoring one try and setting up another in their 38-22 defeat. Perhaps ominously for the newcomer though, the Springbok has been in the form of his life and has been a centre piece
of the Boks’ global dominance in recent years. The 30-year-old has also developed a happy knack of scoring tries this season too, having made the goal-line three times in five outing, after just 19 from 53 appearances for the Eagles across the five seasons prior.

Although ex-Wallaby skipper Michael Hooper has joined Verblitz as a replacement for injured Springbok Pieter Steph du Toit, he won’t feature against the Eagles, while Brave Blossoms backrower Kazuki Himeno and scrumhalf Aaron Smith will also miss the game, denying the contest of a head-to-head between the All Black and Springbok number nines. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars and Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay each have new recruits to "show off" as they clash at Sagamihara Gion Stadium, with second rower and former England Under-20 captain Lewis Chessum slotting in on the bench after landing in Kanagawa, while the Spears will start pacy All Black outside back Shaun Stevenson, after giving him a debut in the last 30 minutes against Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo.

The only side outside of the top three to have lost just once, the Spears will be looking to keep those above them in sight, while the Dynaboars will be aiming for an immediate bounce back after they were well beaten by Yokohama in the Kanagawa derby. With two home wins this season, the Dynaboars have already equalled the number they achieved from their entire schedule in Kanagawa last term.

Home comforts served Kobelco Kobe Steelers well last time, as they won for the first time in three weeks, which will make the Black Rams’ task a difficult one as they bid to snap a run of three consecutive defeats.
Kobe’s commanding win over D-Rocks saw them jump into the final playoff position, and the Black Rams are the second of three consecutive home matches, which give the sixth-placed Steelers an opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the table.

They face a visiting side struggling to ‘go the distance’, with Tabai Matson’s men having been ahead at halftime in three of their four losses to date. Sunday sees Brave Lupus in the rare position of looking to rebound after a defeat as they head to Suzuka Gardens. After suffering their first loss in 14 starts, they are up against an Mie Honda Heat side whose form has tailed off, having registered three consecutive defeats since they opened promisingly with wins over the Black Rams and Verblitz respectively.

With three of their five matches having been decided by five points or less, Kieran Crowley’s side is a good watch, but the ex-Italy coach would probably settle for a dull 80-minutes, if that’s what it takes to right the ship and bowl the defending champions.

Divisions Two & Three

The winless Hino Red Dolphins will try again for a maiden victory as they size up Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves in the weekend’s split round of Division Two. With Hanazono Kintetsu Liners having scraped home against Kamaishi last weekend to gain their first winning points, the pressure will be on Hino to do the same or risk flirting with the Replacement Battle. The Seawaves were unable to build on their shock victory over Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks – suffering late heartbreak as the visitors bagged the winning points in the 76th minute – and will drop to the bottom of the table if they register back-
to-back losses.

Quade Cooper’s Kintetsu travel to Kashiwanoa Park Stadium, where the former Wallaby may oppose ex-Wales flyhalf Rhys Patchell, in an NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu outfit smarting after their 42-0 demolition by Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi.

Patchell missed what was a dreadful afternoon for ex-Wales coach Wayne Pivac’s men as they conceded six tries without reply, being held scoreless for the second time in their last five matches dating back to last season’s Replacement Battle. Having been last two weeks ago, a win on Sunday would see Kintetsu go above the Green Rockets on the standings. The prospect of back-to-back defeats also faces Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions as they confront Kurita Water Gush Akishima on Saturday in Division Three.

Water Gush finally picked up their first win of the season at Le RIRO Fukuoka’s expense, while Red Regulions were being soundly beaten by Sayama Secom Rugguts.
The Hiroshima-based side lost all three matches against Akishima last term, but each was competitive, and involved plenty of scoring, with Water Gush winning by 15, 10, and eight respectively, across a series that produced 208 points.

Having already beaten Le RIRO and Yakult Levins Toda, the Red Regulions are chasing a third win, which would already be their best return for a campaign since the league started four years ago.
Toda are also bidding for their third win on Sunday when they host second-placed Sayama. Japan Rugby League One – Round Six Fixtures (all kick offs Japan Time)

Division One

Saturday February 1
Kobelco Kobe Steelers v Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo; at Hyogo, 12pm
Shizuoka Blue Revs v Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath; at Shizuoka, 2pm
Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights v Urayasu D-Rocks; at Saitama, 2.30pm
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars v Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay; at Kanagawa, 2.30pm
Toyota Verblitz v Yokohama Canon Eagles; at Aichi, 2.30pm

Sunday February 2
Mie Honda Heat v Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo; at Mie, 12.10pm

Division Two

Saturday February 1
Hino Red Dolphins v Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves; at Tokyo, 1pm
Sunday February 2
NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu v Hanazono Kintetsu Liners; at Chiba, 4pm
Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks will play Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi on February 8, and Red Hurricanes Osaka face Kyushu
Electric Power Kyuden Voltex on February 9 to complete the round
Division Three

Saturday February 1
Kurita Water Gush Akishima v Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions; at Kanagawa, 12pm
Sunday February 2
Yakult Levins Toda v Sayama Secom Regguts; at Gunma, 12pm