Official Preview: Japan Rugby League One 2025-26 Quarter Finals/Replacement Battles

Something is stirring at Springbok star Cheslin Kolbe’s Tokyo Sungoliath.
Just three weeks after snapping an unprecedented run of five consecutive defeats, coach Kosei Ono and skipper
Sam Cane have their troops in surprisingly good shape heading into their second quarterfinal in as many seasons.
Stopped last term by the eventual finalists Kubota Spears after having scrambled into the playoffs in sixth, on
Saturday they face an opponent whom they have already beaten twice this season, including just two weeks ago,
Tabai Matson and TJ Perenara’s BlackRams Tokyo.
Sungoliath’s comfortable 39-22 win when the teams last met – incredibly the club’s 19th victory from the last 20
matches against the BlackRams – followed the 54-38 hammering administered to Toyota Verblitz the week before.
While the fourth-placed side finished 22 points behind third-placed Kubota, and only won half of their 18 games,
Sungoliath’s performances have been better than they read.
Twelve bonus points – six for losing by seven points or less – are a testament to that, with defeats by two, one, two
and five against Kobelco Kobe Steelers, Saitama Wild Knights (twice) and Kubota respectively showing that even the
top three ranked sides will have to be wary, should Sungoliath advance beyond the finals series’ opening weekend.
In Kolbe, their trump card, Sungoliath boast the season’s leading point-scorer.
The South African star, who has also made more carry meters with the ball (1367) than anyone else, presents a
compelling case to be rated as the best player in the competition, despite the presence of two World Rugby Players
of the Year, Kubota’s Malcolm Marx and Kobe’s Ardie Savea.
Although Sungoliath have only won two of eight playoff matches since League One began, with their pocket rocket
at the back, and a solid core of experience through the spine of the side, they start the finals series knowing anything
is possible.

While a maiden finals appearance, after a club record nine wins, will judge the season as a stunning success for the
BlackRams regardless of whether it continues beyond this weekend or not, losses in the last three hints that the
campaign might be petering out.
Their ever-combative scrumhalf, All Black talisman and skipper Perenara will be doing his best to make sure that if
the BlackRams are to exit at this juncture, they don’t go quietly.
Petering out is something that has appeared to be happening at Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo ever since the two-time
defending champions beat Sunday’s quarterfinal opponents, Kubota, 24-20 in late January.
Almost unbelievably, that win, achieved with just seven survivors in the starting XV from the previous season’s
victory over the same opponent in the championship game, was Toshiba’s last for more than two months.
The final defeat of that seven-game run was a 51-7 thrashing by Kubota, breaking a stranglehold that had seen Brave
Lupus win the previous five against the Spears, each by five points or less.
While coach Todd Blackadder rested flyhalf Richie Mo’unga from their 45-0 defeat at Saitama two weeks ago, the
All Black ace will be carrying a huge weight on his shoulders as he attempts to mastermind three titles in as many
attempts before his return to New Zealand.
At club level, Mo’unga is a magnet, both for titles – he has accrued seven in Super Rugby and two in League One
between 2017 and 2025 – but also in how he transmits his belief to those around him when it matters, as evidenced
by last year's man-of-the-match performance in the final even though his teammates knew he had taken the field
with a broken hand.
Despite their big win the last time the two met, the Spears still have a score to settle after their 18-13 defeat in last
year’s final, which was their first loss in six playoff matches.
The additional bruising from the end of the 25-match unbeaten run at their home Spears Edoriku Field, following a
loss to Kobelco Kobe Steelers on the final weekend of the regular season, will have added a further edge to their
preparations for a quarter final that would have been avoided, had they beaten Kobe.
With former Wallaby Bernard Foley finished at Kubota when the season ends, the battle of the two outgoing
flyhalves could be pivotal to the game’s outcome.
Another Australian, ex-Wallaby midfielder Samu Kerevi, along with powerhouse Springbok backrower Jasper Wiese,
are among the threats English coach Graham Rowntree will unleash on their lower ranked challengers, Shimizu
Corporation Koto Blue Sharks, with Urayasu D-Rocks’ top tier status on the line.

Led by Irish international Billy Burns, whose elder brother Freddie nearly got Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi over
the line against Urayasu last year, participation in the promotion/relegation series for Division One represents a

meteoric rise for the Blue Sharks, after they narrowly fended off SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS to retain their second-
tier status this time last year.

Wallaby flyhalf Noah Lolesio will be at the sharp end of the Shuttles’ attempt to reverse last term’s agonizing five-
point defeat on aggregate against D-Rocks, as they tackle a Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars outfit who have lost

their last six matches.
While the former (ACT) Brumbies pivot has played only 10 matchesin his debutseason in League One, his 153 points
were a major part of the Shuttle’ successful title defence in Division Two, and the Aichi faithful will be hoping the
inform Australian can provide similar impact with promotion in the offing.
At the other end of the table, Division Two sides Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves and Hino Red Dolphins defend
their status against SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS and SkyActivs Hiroshima respectively.
While the SkyActivs have lost only one game all season, and Hino have won just once, the Division Two side has
prevailed on each of the five most recent encounters between the pair.
The Seawaves, who are coached by ex-Wallaby backrower and former Tonga coach Toutai Kefu, are Replacement
Battle specialists, winning all three series they have featured in, twice against Kurita Water Gush Akishima, and last
year when they scored an easy win over the SkyActivs.
The ‘Iron Men of the North’ are still to be defeated in a Replacement Battle contest (won five, drawn one) and have
the added advantage of playing the first leg at home tomorrow night.
The RUGGUTS were narrowly denied a fairytale promotion in their maiden season in League One, going under by
just five points across the two legs.

Saturday May 23
(4) Tokyo Sungoliath v (5) BlackRams Tokyo; at Tokyo (Chichibu), 2.30pm
Sunday May 24
(3) Kubota Spears v (6) Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo; at Tokyo (Chichibu), 2.30pm