A stacked Japanese Top League 'composite XV'
The Japanese Top League came to it’s conclusion last weekend, with All Black legend Dan Carter leading the Kobe Steelers to their first league victory in over a decade.
The ageing Carter’s presence in the league plays to the idea of the competition being a well-paid retirement home for older players, but it belies the increasing competitiveness of a tournament that’s attracting foreign players earlier and earlier in their respective careers.
Sure, the League can offer salaries that compete with the highest in Europe, but the competition is also proving attractive for those wanting to experience a different way of life and a potentially less attritional form of professional rugby. The Top League’s short season and fast and loose playing style will prove attractive to athletes eager to extend their careers as well as top up their retirement funds.
Yet it is no cake walk. Week in, week out, big-name players can find themselves getting embarrassed by the astonishing speed of the game and the high likelihood of getting rinsed in a one-on-one with a local player that they’ve likely never heard of.
With this in mind, we have put together a composite XV, and we’ll think you’ll agree it’s an impressive one.
15 Gio Aplon
While ex-All Black Israel Dagg also plies his trade in the TL, Aplon performances have stood out. The former Grenoble fullback has been scoring tries for fun for the Toyota Verblitz in a league that well and truly suits his diminutive size, ridiculous leg speed and footwork.
14 Digby Ioane
The Wallabies wing left for the JTL after a disappointing time in the Top 14 with Stade Francais. He returned to Super Rugby with a stint at Crusaders but can be regularly found at the Panasonic Wild Knights.
Thirty-three-year-old Kahui was capped 17 times by the All Blacks. He signed for the Toshiba Brave Lupus in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since.
12 Matt Giteau
He may be 36-years-old, but he’s still a maestro be it at flyhalf or first centre. Faced off against Carter in the final, but it wasn’t to be his day.
11 Israel Dagg
Dagg’s form in the JTL has exactly set the league alight. Only 30, Dagg can be found on the wing or at fullback for the Cannon Eagles.
10 Dan Carter
What more needs to be written about this guy? Carter led the Steelers to their first League win since the inaugural Top League season in 2003-04. Maybe not the best in the world anymore, but he’s still a box office attraction like no other.
9 Andy Ellis
The 28 times capped All Black, who joined the Steelers a year before Carter, teamed up with his old mate, to form quite the halfback duo.
Big Duane is returning to South Africa but it didn’t stop him from grabbing a sneaky season in the JTL with the Kubota Spears.
7 Matt Todd
We could have easily picked Kazuki Himeno here, whose ability at the breakdown is without peer in the league following Pocock’s exit. Equally, the small but rapid Kwagga Smith, who is perfectly suited to the insane pace of the JTL, could have nipped in ahead of the All Black who plays for the Wild Knights.
6 Sean McMahon
McMahon signed with Suntory Sungoliath, abandoning his international career in favour of the JTL. He will now play against all the Australian Rugby franchises with the Sunwolves in the Australian conference, after joining them on a one-year deal.
5 RG Snyman
The towering 6’9, 120kg Springbok played for Honda Heat in the Super Rugby offseason and has returned to South Africa for the 2019 season.
4 Joe Wheeler
A Super Rugby winner with the Highlanders, funnyman Wheeler is one of Suntory’s resident locks. We were spoiled for choice in the secondrows however with options like Renial Hugo, Richie Arnold and Ruan Botha all excellent alternatives.
3 Hiroshi Yamashita
The frontrow is generally the reserve of native players. Hiroshi Yamashita has been capped 50 for Japan and is an absolute rock of a man at tighthead.
Maori All Black hooker Dixon likes to take sojourns from the Highlanders to turn out for the Wild Knights.
1 Keita Inagaki
Wild Knight loosehead Inagaki plays for the Sunwolves in Super Rugby and has also played for the Rebels. He’s been capped 23 times for the Brave Blossoms.
Comments on RugbyPass
Also, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to comments