What's holding Peter Grant back
Peter Grant’s continuing stay in Japan has been causing anxiety in the Stormers’ ranks where he would be welcomed back with open arms. His stay has been extended because his team is doing too well.
Japan has two competitions – the Top League and the All-Japan Championship.
The Top League is the main one as it is a concentration of the best 12 teams in Japan that leads to semifinals and a final and also promotion/relegation matches.
Grant plays for Kobe Kobelco Steelers who ended fifth on the Top League and so did not make the semifinals. That means that they stopped playing on 16 January. Grant could have been off to Cape Town on 17 January, but for the All-Japan Championship.
The All-Japan Championship is older than the Top League which has superceded it in importance. The Top League was formed in 2003 whereas this is the 48th year of the Championship. But the Championship has changed frequently during its existence.
Originally it was a simple one-off game between the top corporate team and the top university side. Since 2009 it has been more complex.
The Championship teams are chosen as follows – the top six teams in the Top League, the top two university teams, the winner of the Top Challenge Series and the Top Club team which is the team which won the Final of the National Club Championship.
Obviously the Top League teams will be better but there is a process to be gone through. For one thing the Top League’s six sides is not a done deal. The top four teams go into the Championship. Then there is a play off for the teams from fifth to tenth to decide which two will join in. Kobe were fifth and had to playoff.
That is not the end of the complexities. The finalists of the Top League, Sanyo and Sungoliath have a ride to the semifinals. The others battle for the other two semifinal slots.
Kobe got into the Championship. In the first round they then beat Toyota Verblitz, which was a bit of a surprise as their opponents had ended two places above them on the Top League. Kobe won 27-17 and Grant kicked two penalty goals, two conversions and a drop. Then last weekend they earned a semifinal spot by beating NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 38-0. Grant played but did not score.
That now puts Kobe into a semifinal against Suntory Sungoliath. The other semifinal will be between Toshiba Brave Lupus and the Top League champions Sanyo Wild Knights.
Grant’s team will play Sungoliath in Tokyo on February 19. If they win that, Grant’s team will play in the final on February 27.
After that Grant can whiz off to Cape Town.
