Review for the first weekend of The Cross Border Rugby

Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights Create History

The Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights created history, becoming the first corporate club from Japan to defeat a side from DHL
Super Rugby Pacific, after a comprehensive 38-14 win over the Gallagher Chiefs in today’s second match of The Cross Border
Rugby at Kumagaya. The six-time champions of Japan were too strong for last year’s Super Rugby finalists, holding their visitors scoreless in the first half before kicking on in the second period to advance a 14-0 advantage into a 24-point winning margin.
Saitama were led by a sterling effort from Springbok second-rower Lood de Jager as they added to an outstanding home
record which has seen them lose just once since rugby resumed in Japan following the Covid-19 pandemic.
This includes a run of 47 matches undefeated. Wallaby winger Marika Koroibete got on the scoreboard, with his 65th-minute try effectively sealing the game for his side,
extending the home side’s advantage to 17 points, with just 15 minutes remaining.
Fielding nine Rugby World Cup internationals from the Brave Blossoms, as well as their foreign test players; de Jager, his test teammate and inside centre Damien de Allende, alongside Koroibete, the Wild Knights bossed their visitors in contact, and
were slick on attack, providing the visitors with a multitude of questions their defence couldn’t answer.

The win was especially sweet for the Wild Knights’ tireless ex-Chiefs back-rower Lachlan Boshier, who was awarded the man-
of-the-match award against an opponent who featured his younger brother and fellow backrower, Kaylum.

The log leaders in Japan Rugby League One, who return to domestic action in two weeks, made a major statement on behalf
of the league by the manner of the win, which saw the New Zealand side dominated for most of the match.
One of the proudest moments in the Wild Knights’ storied history, the success reinforced the value of The Cross Border Rugby,
offering a pointer to the potential in future contact between teams from Japan Rugby League One and Super Rugby clubs.
While the Sunwolves previously appeared in Super Rugby, The Cross Border Rugby is the first occasion where teams from that
competition have faced corporate clubs from Japan in a semi-formal setting.
Japan Rugby League One chairman Genichi Tamatsuka believes the series has the potential to lead to a more formal
competition between the two leagues in the future.
The Cross-Border Rugby, which is one result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Japan Rugby Football
Union and New Zealand Rugby last year, began with the Blues administering a painful lesson to Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath,
handing out a 43-7 beating at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium yesterday.
Without their star internationals, Springbok fullback Cheslin Kolbe and All Black backrower Sam Cane, Sungoliath looked lost

after they were rocked by three tries in the opening 15 minutes, the third of which was scored by the visitor’s impressive
winger Caleb Tangitau.
The 20-year-old bagged a second, six minutes into the second half, as any hope of a Suntory revival disappeared.
A 30th-minute try by Brave Blossoms winger Kotaro Matsushima had briefly threatened a response of substance from the
home side, but that was as good as it got for the league’s third-placed outfit, being held scoreless in the second half as the
visitors strode clear, adding a further four tries to complete a comprehensive 36-point, seven-tries-to-one, victory.
Although decisive, the win did come at a cost with the Blues skipper, the ex-Toyota Verblitz second-rower Patrick Tuipulotu,
suffering a broken jaw which may rule him out of the Super Rugby season.
The Blues now play Yokohama Canon Eagles on Saturday at the city’s Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium to complete their
programme in the series.
Sungoliath have two weeks to mull over their heavy defeat before facing another imposing task when they visit Saitama to
continue one of the fiercest rivalries of the Japanese professional club game.

The Cross-Border Rugby 2024

Saturday February 3
(Auckland) Blues 43, Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath 7; at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo

Sunday February 4
Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights 38, Gallagher (Waikato) Chiefs 14; at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Saitama

Saturday February 10
Yokohama Canon Eagles v (Auckland) Blues; at Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama, 12.10pm

Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay v Gallagher (Waikato) Chiefs; at Prince Chichibu Stadium, Tokyo, 2.30pm