Tries Galore in Japan Rugby League One

Former All Blacks, (Canterbury) Crusaders and Kobelco Kobe Steelers coach Wayne Smith once likened Japan
Rugby League One to the early era of Super Rugby where free-scoring and high match scores were the norm.
Statistics back the two-time Super Rugby (1998, 1999) and Japan Top League (2018) winning head coach up.
Despite there being just five matches last weekend, with one postponed due to snow in Tokyo, and another
producing just one try, Round Seven still produced 44 tries at an average of 8.8 per game.
That figure on its own reinforces the accuracy of Smith’s assertion, but the overall try scoring averages to this
point, five years after the league’s inception, ram home the point.
Once the fulltime whistle sounded on Yokohama Canon Eagles’ 20-14 win over Toyota Verblitz, the 437th regular
season match in League One was complete.
The game’s final try, which was scored by Eagles’ second rower Cormac Daly, was the 3567th to be scored to date
in the five regular season competitions since League One began.
This represents the impressive average of 8.16 tries per match, which lives up to the league’s ambition to produce
thrills and spills, plenty of tries and, above all else, great entertainment to grow the fan base and the game in
Japan.
Crowd figures of more than 50,000 for each of the last three finals suggest League One is achieving this, painting
a positive picture of the competition’s trajectory, as well as the state of the game in the country.
With the try-scoring averages on a yearly basis since the inaugural season having risen steadily, the evidence
suggests that the league is not about to plateau.
As such, it will continue its attraction to the game’s heavyweight names; among them the four World Rugby
Players of the Year – Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea, Pieter Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx – who have graced the 

club game in Japan since League One began.

Japan Rugby League One Try Scoring Averages (Season on Season)
Season One (2022) – 672 tries in 96 matches @ 7.00 per game
Season Two (2022/23) – 756 tries in 96 matches @ 7.87 per game
Season Three (2023/24) – 848 tries in 96 matches @8.83 per game
Season Four (2024/25) – 949 tries in 108 matches @8.78 per game
Season Five (2025/26) – 342 tries in 41 matches @8.80 per game

Not only is League One producing tries at an average that exceeds its contemporary club competitions from
around the world, but it is also providing a level of competitiveness on an annual basis that exceeds all others.
This is illustrated by the five-point winning margin in last season’s final between Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo and
Kubota Spears being the second largest of the four deciders that have been played to date, with the others
decided by six, four and two points respectively.
It is also borne out in the try-scoring figures achieved by the top clubs since inception.
Such is the tight nature of competition, two-time champions Brave Lupus Tokyo, and inaugural winners Saitama
Wild Knights cannot be split after 73 regular season games, with the 2023/24 finalists each having achieved 374
tries.

The 2022/23 winners Kubota are four tries behind, with just eight tries separating the try gathering of the top four clubs after four and a half seasons of play.

Japan Rugby League One Tries by Club (Top Six Only)
Saitama Wild Knights – 374 tries in 73 matches @ 5.12 per game
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo – 374 tries in 73 matches @ 5.12 per game
Kubota Spears – 370 tries in 73 matches @ 5.06 per game
Kobelco Kobe Steelers - 366 tries in 73 matches @ 5.01 per game
Tokyo Sungoliath – 330 tries in 72 matches @ 4.38 per game
Yokohama Canon Eagles – 312 tries in 73 matches @ 4.27 per game

There is two-sides to every game though, and with so many tries being scored, defensive excellence is one of the
major points of difference which has allowed the top teams to separate themselves from the rest, even if the 

attacking nature of the league has created defensive figures that exceed other competitions around the world.
The Wild Knights boast the best defensive record to date in the current season, with an average concession of
14.42 points after seven outings.
This is consistent with their overall performance in erecting the best barricades and has seen them top the
defensive table for the regular season twice in the four completed seasons, ironically failing to go on and secure
the title on either occasion.

Perhaps appropriately, given attack holds the upper hand in Japan, the best defensive team from the regular
season has never gone on to win the title from the four completed seasons to date.
That might be a point frowned upon by the game’s purists, but it emphasizes that when it comes to Japan Rugby
League One, wild entertainment is guaranteed!

Japan Rugby League One Points Concession by Club (Top Six Only)
Saitama Wild Knights – 1381 points in 73 matches @ 18.91 per game
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo – 1840 points in 73 matches @ 25.20 per game
Kubota Spears – 1635 points in 73 matches @ 22.39 per game
Tokyo Sungoliath – 1791 in 72 matches @ 24.87 per game
Yokohama Canon Eagles – 1909 in 73 matches @ 26.15 per game
Kobelco Kobe Steelers – 2236 points in 73 matches @ 30.63 per game