Official Review - Japan Rugby League One (Round Six)

Saitama Wild Knights are the sole unbeaten side left in the premier division of Japan Rugby League One after a
dramatic weekend saw them edge Tokyo Sungoliath 31-30, while Kubota Spears surrendered their perfect record
following a 24-20 loss to defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo in thrilling replay of last season’s
championship decider.
The Wild Knights, who were defending a record of having lost just once in their last 41 home games, looked to
have done the business yesterday when they worked to a 31-16 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining, with
Springbok midfielder Damien de Allende producing one of their four tries.
Another came from a penalty try after Cheslin Kolbe was deemed to have prevented a certain try by slapping
down a pass after the Wild Knights had created a clear overlap.
The Springbok winger was yellow carded in the incident; his second yellow in as many games against Saitama.
The Wild Knights 15-point lead did prove enough, but only just with the gap narrowed to a point after Kolbe
partially redeemed himself by crossing for his fourth try of the season with two minutes to play.
After he converted to complete a haul of 15 points for the afternoon, the Wild Knights held on, with their sixth
win of the season moving them three points clear on the standings after the Spears were denied in the 80th
minute by All Black flyhalf Richie Mo’unga.
The 31-year-old, who had been man-of-the-match in last year’s 18-13 victory over the Spears despite playing the
final with a broken hand, flummoxed three defenders with quick feet to dive across for the match-winner in the
final play of an epic contest.
Brave Lupus led 12-3 at halftime but conceded a try to Shaun Stevenson shortly after the re-start which brought
Kubota back into contention.
The inform All Black fullback, who backed up a break by scrumhalf Shinobu Fujiwara to score, then set up winger
Yamada Hibiki 20 minutes later, allowing the Spears to claim the lead for the first time in the game.

The play was Stevenson’s seventh try ‘assist’, to go along with the four he has scored, with his 11 try involvements
the most by an individual so far in the season.
The scores were tied 17-17 heading into the final stages, and Kubota appeared to have won it when Wallaby
flyhalf Bernard Foley landed a penalty goal with three minutes left.
But Toshiba thought otherwise, gaining the field position that provided Mo’unga with the opportunity to conjure
up the winning play, allowing them to repeat the result of last year’s competition decider, despite featuring only
seven of the same players from that starting XV.
Although it was Toshiba’s fifth consecutive win over Kubota, the winning margin has never been greater than five
points, illustrating the close nature of the rivalry between the teams.
The end to Kubota’s 13-match winning sequence in regular season matches allowed third placed Kobelco Kobe
Steelers to close the gap to a point on the standings following their 38-32 success against bottom side Yokohama
Canon Eagles.
All Black second rower Brodie Retallick, who is the competition's leading try-scorer, scored his eighth of the season
during the Steelers’ success, with his try helping to allow the visitors to shake off their determined opponents
through the middle stages of the second half, with three tries in 15 minutes blowing Kobe out to 23-point lead.
Despite a late rally from the home side which featured two tries by Springbok centre Jesse Kriel, Kobe extended
their current unbeaten run to five matches, which is the club’s best since a side coached by Wayne Smith won the
title in 2018 during a sequence of 18 wins on end.
Kobe’s last title winning side, which was captained by All Black scrumhalf Andy Ellis, also featured his test
colleague and three-time World Rugby Player of the Year, Dan Carter.
The Eagles remain stranded at the foot of the standings and are the only side still to win in Division One after Mie
Honda Heat got off the mark following a rousing 32-23 win over Urayasu D-Rocks at Tochigi yesterday.
D-Rocks weren’t helped by the red card awarded against second rower Manaaki Selby-Rickit, and while they
briefly raised hopes of an against the odds victory by edging ahead 16-15 shortly after halftime, Honda responded
with three tries to make sure of both a try-scoring bonus point as well as their first win of season.
The maximum point return, which took Honda above both Toyota Verblitz and Mitsubishi Sagmihara Dynaboars on
the standings, also ended the club’s run of 14 regular season games without a win.

Sagamihara have now lost four on the trot and were architects of their own demise to some extent during their
33-24 loss to BlackRams Tokyo, blowing a 19-13 halftime lead, as well as conceding two yellow cards concurrently
during the second half when they trailed by just four points.
The BlackRams made the most of their hosts’ generosity, extending their advantage to 11, and while a try by
Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am closed the gap to six points, briefly reviving the Dynaboars’ hopes, Ichigo
Nakakusu’s fourth penalty goal of the afternoon in injury time closed the door, while completing an 18-point
performance by the visitor’s flyhalf.
The away side has won each of the last six matches between the pair.
Shizuoka BlueRevs climbed into the top six, while leaving Verblitz languishing in the relegation series places
heading into the season’s second bye weekend, after an impressive 43-19 demolition job at Yamaha Stadium
today.
The home side, who raced to a 24-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, were never threatened with skipper Kwagga
Smith coming off the bench to score his first try of the season in the second half, after former Australian National
Rugby League player Valynce Te Whare had scored for the second week on end.
Verblitz, who have not won since opening day, have conceded 203 points during a horrific five game run since, and
have suffered an added blow with Springbok backrower Pieter Steph du Toit being ruled out by injury for
potentially the rest of the season.
There was late drama in Division Two, with Kiwi veteran Orbyn Leger slotting an 81st minute penalty goal for
Green Rockets Tokatsu to snatch a 21-19 win over Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex.
The only game in Division Three saw leaders SkyActivs Hiroshima outclass Yakult Levins Toda 66-24.

Japan Rugby League One Results - Round Six

Division One

Saturday January 24
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 24, Kubota Spears 20; at Tokyo (Chichibu)
Mie Honda Heat 32, Urayasu D-Rocks 23; at Tochigi
Saitama Wild Knights 31, Tokyo Sungoliath 30; at Saitama
BlackRams Tokyo 33, Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars 24; at Kanagawa (Gion)

Kobelco Kobe Steelers 38, Yokohama Canon Eagles 32; at Kanagawa (Nippatsu)
Sunday January 25
Shizuoka BlueRevs 43, Toyota Verblitz 19; at Shizuoka