Official Preview - Japan Rugby League One (Round 17)

The regular season might still have two weeks to run, but a lot of its outstanding issues should be resolved when
the 26-teams convene for the penultimate round of Japan Rugby League One this weekend.
While Urayasu D-Rocks are already relegation series-bound in Division One, Saitama Wild Knights will make sure of
a top two finish if they secure an expected bonus point win when first plays last in Tokyo tomorrow night.
If Mie Honda Heat, who are playing for their season, upset second-placed Kobelco Kobe Steelers when they meet
at Hanazono Rugby Stadium the following day, the five-points against D-Rocks will have landed the Wild Knights
top spot in the finals for the third time, with a week to spare.

First place awards its recipient a bye on the first weekend of the three-week elimination series, as well as a semi-
final draw against the lower ranked winner of the opening two sudden death contests.

At the other end of the ladder, Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars might still have a mathematical chance of
avoiding The Replacement Battle’s post-season jeopardy, but that will be erased should the 11th-placed outfit
become Yokohama Canon Eagles’ fifth victim from the last seven weeks in the season’s second Kanagawa derby.
The Dynaboars prevailed in December’s first edition, 17-10, but have won just three times since, and arrive in the
capital having dropped their last four.
While the departing Faf de Klerk has often been tagged as the Eagles’ key figure during his time at the Canon club,
it’s fellow Springbok Jesse Kriel who has been the main man in their recent golden run.
This includes last weekend, when he repeatedly ripped the Toshiba Brave Lupus midfield defence to shreds during
a man-of-the-match performance in the 50-26 demolition of the defending champions.
That result has left Todd Blackadder’s men facing a must win afternoon against Shizuoka BlueRevs on Saturday.

While they are sixth, a loss would make a title hattrick unlikely, with the Wild Knights – against whom they were
outclassed 46-0 on the opening day – still to be faced on the final weekend.
Blackadder must have been left wondering what was going on at times during last weekend's defeat as his
charges, who had seemed to recover their mojo with back-to-back wins after having lost seven straight, were
made to look second rate while the born-again Eagles ran amok.
Injuries to key men for sustained periods, as well as the loss of Brave Blossoms skipper Warner Dearns, who has
been tearing it up in Super Rugby while on sabbatical with the (Wellington) Hurricanes, hasn’t made life easy for
the two-time champions.
Their pride will demand that – if the hattrick pursuit is to come up short – it should do so with a roar, rather than a
whimper.
The ‘darlings’ of last year, when they made the playoffs for the first time, the BlueRevs are also facing their
competition mortality after a bumpy ride that has included 10 defeats.
Add an 11th to that column at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium and a season which started with high hopes will
have just one week left to run.
While Shizuoka and Honda, who are ranked immediately below them, will bow out of the playoffs’ running with
defeats, seventh-placed Toyota Verblitz could end the weekend in the Top Six should they succeed against Tokyo
Sungoliath, and Toshiba fail.
Sunday’s 40-28 victory over BlackRams Tokyo corrected a course that had seemed irresistible prior to their 38-24
defeat by Kobe.
The come-from-behind win in Tokyo was Toyota’s sixth from their last eight outings; a run that has given them a
great opportunity to make the playoffs for the first time in the five years since the inauguration of League One.
Like Verblitz, Sungoliath also has momentum, only theirs is going the wrong way, having not won since they
thumped Brave Lupus in the Fuchu derby in mid-March.

Five defeats since have made what would have been considered unthinkable just over a month ago – that the five-
times champions of Japan might miss the playoffs – now a possibility.

Sungoliath will still control their finals destiny if they lose again, but victories by the two sides immediately below
them – Verblitz and Brave Lupus – would make for an uncomfortable final weekend, when they are up against the
well-performed BlackRams.

Third-placed Kubota Spears have no such worries as they line up the BlackRams who, while just a place below
them, are 23 points behind on the standings.
Last season’s finalists are still in the hunt for the first-round bye in the playoffs.
This could end up being decided against Kobe on the final weekend, but Malcolm Marx and his colleagues must
deal with TJ Perenara’s side first.
After stringing four wins together consecutively through February and into March, the BlackRams have gone win,
loss, win, loss, and win, loss, in the time since.
Despite nine wins being their best return since League One formed, they are not certain of the playoffs yet.
A win over Kubota on Sunday would confirm it.
So too would a loss for either Toshiba or Toyota.
Should BlackRams spring the upset, Brodie Retallick’s Kobe will be confirmed as a top two finisher if they have
beaten Honda, given the Kansai-based side entered the weekend three points above their western Tokyo rivals,
Kubota.
After losing last weekend, section leaders Hanazono Kintetsu Liners and Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi will clear
up the Division Two picture if they can resume ‘normal’ service on Saturday.
Wins over Green Rockets Tokatsu and RedHurricanes Osaka respectively would push the top two beyond the reach
of third-placed Shimizu Corporation Koto Blue Sharks, leaving the sides to settle the title, and the division’s
finishing order for The Replacement Battle, against each other on the final weekend of the regular season.
The league’s only unbeaten team across all three sections, SkyActivs Hiroshima will complete back-to-back
Division Three titles should they achieve their 14th win on end while visiting Kurita Water Gush Akishima.
Second rower Andrew Davidson will be looking to continue his remarkable run of try-scoring, with four last

weekend against Le RIRO Fukuoka taking his season tally to 17; one ahead of Kobe’s Retallick as the highest try-
scorer across the entire league.

The former Ealing Trailfinder needs just two more to go past the regular season record across all divisions, which is
the 18 scored by Sungoliath winger Seiya Ozaki in the league’s second season.
Davidson has already bettered the 15 scored last year by SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS fullback Chase Tiatia for the
most by a player in a Division Three season.