Japan Rugby League One 2025-26 | Round Eight

A thrilling end to the weekend saw Kobelco Kobe Steelers today avenge last year’s hattrick of defeats by Toshiba
Brave Lupus Tokyo in Japan Rugby League One... but it was close.
Despite rocketing to a 20-0 lead inside of the opening 30 minutes, the visitors had to fend off a furious comeback
by the defending champions, eventually prevailing in a desperate finish, 34-33.
Brave Lupus scored four tries in the second half and came within a missed Richie Mo’unga conversion of pulling
off a victory that had seemed unlikely for most of the afternoon.
The home side ramped up the pressure on their opponents towards the back end of the game, with Kobe at one
point left with 13 players after both second rower Gerard Cowley-tuioti and centre Anton Lienert-Brown were hit
with yellow cards.
While Brave Lupus made the most of Cowley-tuioti’s absence to take the lead for the first time through a try by
the recently named Japan wider training group member Rob Thompson, the ex-Maori All Black midfielder’s score
was almost immediately canceled out by Kobe fullback Kanta Matsunaga’s second try of the afternoon.
That gave third-placed Kobe a 34-28 lead, but Toshiba hit back again, with centre Rei Ishioka replying six minutes
later, leaving Mo’unga with a kick to possibly win the game.
For once, the All Black star couldn’t deliver, and while there was still time to play, Kobe held on to secure their
seventh and unquestionably most important win of the season.
As well as putting last year’s misery against Toshiba – which had included a 73-28 belting – behind them, it was
Kobe’s first win over Brave Lupus in eight attempts, having lost six of the previous seven, alongside a draw.
It was also an important test of their mental strength, which will be examined again on Saturday when they host
the unbeaten Saitama Wild Knights.

Despite the loss, Brave Lupus remain fourth on the point’s table, although they are now eight points astern of
their conquerors.
A try by World Rugby Player of the Year Malcolm Marx finally allowed second-placed Kubota Spears to shake off
Shizuoka BlueRevs at Yamaha Stadium yesterday, with Springbok’s first try of the season beginning a run of 21
unanswered points which carried the visitors to a convincing 42-19 victory.
Shizuoka had drawn to within two points shortly after halftime when they were awarded a penalty try for a
professional foul that saw flyhalf Bernard Foley ejected from the game for 10 minutes.
While the home side were unable to score in the Wallaby international’s absence, Shizuoka was made to pay
when backrower Vueti Tupou was yellow carded for a similar offence eight minutes later, as the Marx try was
quickly followed by one from fellow hooker Hayate Era, with the new arrival scoring a minute after taking the field
to replace the South African star.
Spears skipper Faulua Makisi, who bagged a second half hattrick last week, bookended this contest with tries, the
second making sure his side returned to Tokyo with maximum points achieved.
Just how significant the extra point was became clear as news filtered through of the league-leading Wild Knights
being denied a bonus point from their 26-20 win over bottom side Toyota Verblitz, which closed Kubota to within
a point of their rivals on the championship table.
While the win extended Saitama’s sequence against Verblitz to 10, the first nine were achieved at an average
winning margin of 22 points.
Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars backrower Marino Makele-Tu’u was the toast of Kanagawa after scoring the
hattrick that helped his side to a morale boosting 44-34 win over Mie Honda Heat.
The former (Otago) Highlander’s tries allowed the Dynaboars to pull back a game that appeared to have gotten
away from them as Honda, bidding for their third win on end, burst to a 34-22 lead midway through the second
half.
He was well supported by another ex-Highlander, All Black Jackson Hemopo, who weighed in with two of his
team’s seven tries.
As well as lifting Sagamihara clear of the bottom two, the win ended a run of four consecutive losses, and eight
defeats from their last nine matches.

Israel Folau was also in try-scoring form for Urayasu D-Rocks at Miyazaki, but the former Australian and Tongan
international’s first tries of the season went unrewarded as Tokyo Sungoliath cemented their place in the top six
with a comfortable 41-19 win.
Playing in only his third match for the year, Folau scored in the 33rd, 51st and 62nd minutes to complete just his
second hattrick since he arrived in Japan for the maiden season of League One, but Sungoliath were still unduly
troubled, with All Black backrower Sam Cane and Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe among their six try-scorers in
the bonus point-earning win.
Ricoh BlackRams Tokyo jumped into the top six after going back-to-back in the ‘Photocopy Derby’, courtesy of a
40-point second half that overwhelmed Yokohama Canon Eagles.
Leon MacDonald’s charges had responded well to conceding the first two tries, wrestling the advantage their way
when they established a 17-13 lead at the break.
It was one-way traffic after the resumption though, with the BlackRams piling on six tries, including one in the
final moments by backrower Brodi McCurran.

The 31-year-old’s second try of the afternoon completed a 53-31 scoreline, while also grabbing an invaluable try-
scoring bonus point, which had threatened to be denied after Eagles winger Chihito Matsui scored Yokohama’s

fifth try in the 79th minute.
In Division Two, Manie Libbok bagged the first try of his Japanese sojourn as Hanazono Kintetsu Liners maintained
their unbeaten record in a 50-38 win over Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex, although the Springbok flyhalf’s
17 points were overshadowed by the performance of visiting fullback Jude Gibbs.
The 24-year-old Australian, a product of Sydney’s famed St Joseph’s College (Hunters Hill), banked 23 points in just
his second League One outing, including two tries, as Voltex trailed by just two after 70 minutes before finally
conceding.
Playing through champions Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi displaced Shimizu Corporation Koto Blue Sharks in
second on the ladder after flattening their rivals 66-12 in Saturday’s second match.
Former (Waikato) Chiefs and (Otago) Highlander’s backrower Tom Florence scored four tries for the Shuttles in his
fourth appearance since arriving from the ill-fated Major League Rugby outfit, New Orleans Gold, while also
spending 10 minutes on the sidelines following an early yellow card.

Invercargill-born centre Chance Peni, who appeared for each of the Brumbies and Western Force in Super Rugby,
now leads the try-scoring in the section with seven, after becoming the third player across the league to bag a
hattrick in the Shuttles’ 10-try demolition.
The only match in Division Three saw SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS outgun Kurita Water Gush Akishima 34-6, closing
the gap on section leaders SkyActivs Hiroshima to four points.