Malcolm Marx crushes Bok teammates' championship hopes

SEMIFINAL WRAP: Malcolm Marx led the Spears into their second Japan Rugby League One Final in three years after his side held off the Wild Knights 28-24 in a gripping second semifinal on Sunday.

The Springbok hooker, who was sorely missed during last year’s failed title ‘defence’ after rupturing his medial ligament at the World Cup, scored his 10th try of the season in the third minute to give his side momentum.

The Wild Knights, who had Springboks Damian de Allende and Lood de Jager in their starting XV, were always a step behind in the game from there.

The impressive Shinobu Fujiwara bagged the Spears’ second try of the opening 10 minutes when he charged down an ambitious attacking kick from inside his own territory by Takuya Yamasawa, with the manner of the mistake symbolising his side’s performance.

The Wild Knights fullback was a fraction too slow in his execution which allowed the Spears’ scrumhalf to capitalise, and the deficiency seemed to repeat throughout the contest, with the Spears generally having the answers when they needed them.

Although their supremacy came under threat in the second half, when quickfire tries by wing Koki Takeyama and flyhalf Kyohei Yamasawa, saw the Wild Knights reel in a 15-point half-time deficit to close to 25-24, the Spears’ game management through the final 22 minutes was almost flawless, holding their rivals scoreless when it counted.

The win sets up a decider against Brave Lupus Tokyo, with Sunday’s winner to become the first team to have graced the victory dais in League One twice, after the Spears prevailed in 2022-23, and Brave Lupus last season.

The defending champions were too strong for the Steelers on Saturday, overpowering the Kansai-based outfit with a 24-0 second spell, following a first-half arm-wrestle that ended with Brave Lupus 7-3 in front.

After averaging five tries a match through the regular season, the Steelers were unable to break down the well-organised Brave Lupus defence, creating opportunities but lacking the finishing polish as they were held scoreless for the final 77 minutes of the 3-31 defeat.

Former Maori All Black midfielder Rob Thompson, who has now scored 11 tries during his best season in Japan, scored a try in each half for Brave Lupus, bulldozing his way over for the first off the back of a strong charge from skipper Michael Leitch, before collecting an errant pass to run 30 meters for the last try of the game.

Such was the Brave Lupus dominance they could have added two more to their four-try tally, twice having tries ruled out, one for a slight knock-on by kingpin Richie Mo’unga in the lead-up to his international teammate Shannon Frizell running 30 meters to dot down under the posts.

It was the only blemish on a day where the All Black flyhalf appeared to have the ball on a string, twice executing 40/20 field kicks alongside five goals from as many attempts, which included a sideline conversion and a 45-meter penalty goal.

The final margin, as a weary defence gave up two late tries, was harsh on a battling Steelers outfit after a much-improved season which saw former Wallaby coach Dave Rennie’s side qualify for the semifinals for the first time since the most recent of the club’s two nationwide league titles in 2018.

Replacement Battles

Elsewhere, the D-Rocks’ stars Samu Kerevi and Israel Folau still have work to do, even though both scored tries, with the former continuing to push his Wallabies claims by scoring twice in his side’s 42-43 defeat to Aichi in the first leg of their promotion/relegation series.

Quade Cooper and Will Genia also have to come from behind in the return match if they are to sign off from the Liners with promotion, after their side lost 25-29 to the Heat, for whom Tom Banks was a try-scorer.