Official Preview: Japan Rugby League One 2024-25 Final

Richie Mo’unga. Bernard Foley. Quade Cooper. Freddie Burns.
Who will be the point of difference?
It’s the weekend of the star flyhalves as the fourth edition of Japan Rugby League One reaches its’ end, with the All Black
star facing off against his Wallaby counterpart in Sunday’s Division One final, while each of the celebrated Wallaby and
the five-cap Englishman will look to end their time in Japan on a high by leading their sides back to the league’s top tier.
Mo’unga added a League One title to his seven from Super Rugby on debut last term, but Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo’s
dramatic 24-20 win over the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights was the first championship of the 20-year professional
coaching career of Todd Blackadder, who twice took the Crusaders to the Super Rugby final but was denied in close
finishes.
One of those came against the NSW Waratahs in 2014, when a clutch 79th minute long range penalty goal by Foley denied
Blackadder’s team, after the Crusaders had rallied from 14-0 down to lead 32-30, only to be pipped at the post in a 33-
32 loss.
Foley also stands in the way of Blackadder’s current charges, although the biggest stumbling block might be hooker
Malcolm Marx, who was the Spears’ talisman during their maiden title-winning run two seasons ago and was sorely
missed last year when the then defending champions failed to qualify for the playoffs.
The 30-year-old Springbok – the best hooker in the world in most people’s eyes – has scored an impressive 27 tries in 39
matches since he touched down in Japan, including the opening try which set the tone during Kubota’s impressive 28-24
semi-final win over the Wild Knights last weekend.

He also scored when the Spears last beat Brave Lupus, 46-27 two seasons ago enroute to the title.
Just 11 survivors from that game featured in the matchday squad for the semi-final against Saitama.
Semi-final success followed a 20-15 win over Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath in the quarterfinals, continuing a consistent run
through a season where the Spears have lost just twice, 26-24 against the Wild Knights, and 34-28 against their opponents
in the decider.
They lost one game when they won the tournament.
Like Marx, Mo’unga has 10 tries for the season, while landing 29 of his 32 attempts on goal, which included five from five
during last weekend’s professional 31-3 win over Kobe.
While he hasn’t been the first choice goalkicker for most of the season, with that responsibility taken up by fullback
Takuro Matsunaga, such has been the level of the New Zealander’s accuracy, it wasn’t until his 12th attempt of the season
that he finally missed.
Although the 30-year-old is Toshiba’s star man, the platform laid by an experienced forward pack, led by abrasive second
rower Warner Dearns, alongside the bruising backrowers Michael Leitch and All Black Shannon Frizell, has only been
realistically challenged twice, although Shizuoka BlueRevs’ double success over the defending champions will give their
opponents hope.
Despite their heavy semi-final defeat, Kobe will be aiming for a final flourish against the Wild Knights in Saturday's third
and fourth playoff to cap off an encouraging campaign which saw them return to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
The game is the second of the season between the league’s former Wallaby coaches, Dave Rennie and Robbie Deans,
with the latter claiming the ‘bragging’ rights in the first following his side’s 46-32 win.
Scotland hooker George Turner will play his 13th and last match for Kobe, having signed for Harlequins in the Premiership.
While possibly now a longshot for inclusion in the Wallabies squad for the upcoming series against the British & Irish
Lions, winger Marika Koroibete returns to the starting lineup, after an injury plagued season where he has managed just
six appearances for the Wild Knights.
After winning the inaugural title, followed by back-to-back appearances in the final against Kubota and Toshiba, Panasonic

may be vulnerable in a match both sides would have hoped to avoid.
While the league will, for the first time, have a previous winner repeat, the level of competition continues to increase, as
evidenced by this being the fourth different combination to play in the final.
It has also shown up in The Replacement Battles, where both of last weekend’s promotion/relegation first legs in the
higher divisions were decided in the final moments, as was one of the ties between sides from Division Two and Division
Three.