Top League big guns march on
Two-time defending champions Wild Knights earned their spot by beating the Eagles 46-6.
Wing Kentaro Kodama crossed for a brace, Naoki Kawamata and Daniel Heenan also touched down.
Man-of-the-match Hayden Parker added four conversions and six penalties from as many attempts as the Wild Knights stayed on course for their eighth final appearance in the last nine years.
The Steelers ran in seven tries to beat the Liners 42-10.
Yoshikazu Ohashi grabbed two and there were five-pointers for Naoya Minamihashi, Kentaro Nagasaki, Shohei Maekawa, Andries Bekker and Craig Wing, with Kenji Shomen adding two conversions and a drop-goal.
The games in the other half of the bracket were closer.
Jubilo got past the Shining Arcs 26-7, thanks to two tries from Kyosuke Horie, one from Male Sa'u and a penalty try – with Ayumu Goromaru converting three of them.
The Brave Lupus also benefited from a penalty try as they beat Verblitz 29-17, with further tries coming from Toshiaki Hirose, Keisuke Masuda and Shuhei Oshima.
Francois Steyn kicked three conversions and a penalty.
Meanwhile, in the first round of the playoffs to determine ninth to 16th in the league, Suntory Sungoliath topped the Red Sparks 52-7, the Shuttles beat the Black Rams 27-17, the Heat got past the Red Hurricanes 23-20 and the Spears defeated the Green Rockets 30-20.
The winners automatically keep their places in the league next season, while the losers will play the top four sides from the regional leagues in one-off promotion-relegation play-off games, once the final standings are determined.
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