Boks go head to head in Japan

ROUND FOUR PREVIEW: A tantalizing clash between the still-winless Sungoliath and Kubota Spears is one of
the headline acts in the fourth weekend of Japan Rugby League One which kicks off this weekend, with the recent history between the two strongly favouring the latter.

The Spears ended a long drought in the rivalry between the Tokyo neighbours – that ran between 2004 and 2022 and
featured 14 consecutive defeats – in spectacular fashion during their title-winning run two years ago, when they won all three matches between the sides, including a 24-18 success in the semifinal.

Last year’s contest was split, although the Spears’ thumping 45-26 win on the eve of the semifinal probably didn’t help the Sungoliath confidence ahead of a semifinal they lost to Brave Lupus a week later.

That win was Kubota’s third of a current run of six from seven, after winning just one of the previous six.

After three impressive victories, Division One ‘upstarts’ Blue Revs face their toughest test yet as they tackle Springbok star Faf De Klerk’s Eagles.

Saturday’s match sees three of the biggest names in South African rugby go head-to-head with inspirational backrower
Kwagga Smith leading the Blue Revs, while De Klerk and centre Jesse Kriel will suit up for the Eagles.

After a close loss to Brave Lupus on the opening weekend, which was followed by a flat performance when outclassed by Kobe Steelers, the back-to-back semifinalists finally got underway last Saturday, with their speed of recycle and multiple attacking threats too much for Urayasu D-Rocks to handle as the Eagles won 40-12.

A step up will be required to beat the Blue Revs, after Smith’s men backed up their thrilling opening day win over Kobe by outclassing D-Rocks, before a breathless 40-34 success against Sagamihara Dynaboars.

The win over Sagamihara featured a second hattrick in as many weeks by winger Malo Tuitama, taking his try tally to 12 from the last six matches the Blue Revs have played away from their Yamaha Stadium base.

While Shizuoka are the competition’s joint-leading try-scorer after three weeks with 17, they were beaten 34-17 when the two sides last met, making the Eagles a further litmus test as to their improvement.

Brave Lupus are tied with Blue Revs on tries scored.

Coming off a statement 32-26 win over Kobe, which was achieved without All Black star Richie Mo’unga who will be
absent again, the defending champions will be chasing more tries against a D-Rocks outfit already showing a point’s
differential of minus 133, as they grapple with the step up from Division Two.

While they have scored just two tries less than the top-of-the-table Wild Knights, closing out matches has been the biggest issue for Verblitz, who led with five minutes to play in each of their losses to the Spears and Mie Heat, before twice missing what would have been winning kicks during last weekend’s frustrating draw with Sungoliath.

Although they have beaten their upcoming guests at Gifu in five of the six meetings since League One began, Verblitz has seldom had it easy against Black Rams in recent times, with three of those wins by seven points or less, alongside a 29-25 defeat in the 2022-23 season.

New coach Tabai Matson has made a promising start to life at Setagaya too, with a rare win over Sungoliath following a meritorious two-point loss to the impressive Heat on opening day.

Although the Black Rams were well beaten by the Wild Knights last weekend, the final 39-16 scoreline did them no favours for their effort, which won’t have been lost on the Verblitz brains trust of Steve Hansen and Ian Foster.

Mie might have suffered their first defeat of the season against the Spears, but the narrow margin of the loss, and the enormous influence Los Pumas backrow Pablo Matera is exerting at the breakdown, suggests they will be a threat to a Wild Knights outfit who have risen to their usual position at the summit without ever having looked as dominant as they have done in previous seasons.

History suggests Honda has no chance: they have lost the last six games against the Wild Knights by an average of 42 points, conceding more than a half century on each of their last three visits to Kumagaya.

But history also painted a bleak picture before Heat’s wins over Verblitz and the Black Rams.

Sagamihara shapes as a potential banana skin for Kobe in the round’s final match at Kanagawa, with Glen Delaney’s side quickly putting their second-round thrashing by Brave Lupus behind them, as they succumbed narrowly in a ding-dong clash with the Blue Revs last time.

Although the Dynaboars have lost two of their first three, they have already gained value from the recruitment of Kurt-Lee Arendse, with the Springbok winger having scored in two of his first three appearances.

Kobe split their convincing win over the Eagles with narrow losses to each of the Blue Revs and Brave Lupus, but their All Black second-rower and skipper Brodie Retallick will be looking for his side to build up winning momentum in what could prove a crucial stretch of their season.

Sunday’s match will be followed by ties against D-Rocks, the Black Rams and Sungoliath, each of whom are below Kobe
on the ladder.