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All Blacks and Springboks stars vie for semi-final spot in final round of League One
All Blacks and Springboks stars will head into the final round of Japan Rugby League One this weekend with the last semi-final spot on the line.
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Three of the four playoff spots in Division One have been sewn up, with Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo and Toyota Verblitz vying for the fourth and final playoff berth.
Toshiba have the upper hand in the race for fourth place after clinching a shock win over local rivals Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath at Ajinomoto Stadium on Sunday.
Featuring ex-All Blacks duo Matt Todd and Seta Tamanivalu, as well as Brave Blossoms star Michael Leitch, Toshiba ran out 27-3 victors against the top-ranked Suntory.
Not even the likes of All Blacks playmaker Damian McKenzie and Wallabies midfielder Samu Kerevi could save Suntory from suffering just their second defeat of the season as Todd ran in one of his side’s three tries in the Japanese capital.
Toshiba also achieved the admirable feat of limiting McKenzie, the competition’s leading points-scorer with 191 points, to a solitary penalty, scored inside the opening four minutes.
The result means Suntory must score an away victory over Toyota this weekend to ensure they head into the semi-finals as top seeds after Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay moved to within two points of them following their 40-13 win over NTT Communications Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu in Tokyo on Sunday.
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However, Toyota have it all to play for themselves as they sit only three points behind Toshiba in fifth place after their 64-17 thrashing of Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Toyota achieved that win without the services of 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit, who was absent from a forward pack that still featured All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu and Brave Blossoms No 8 Kazuki Himeno.
Tuipulotu crashed over for one of his side’s 10 tries, while Springboks fullback Willie le Roux scored two of his own and kicked a conversion before being yellow carded in the last 10 minutes.
Nevertheless, Toyota’s win sets up a grandstand finish to the League One regular season when they host Suntory this Saturday.
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In addition to upsetting Suntory, Toyota need Toshiba to slip up against Kwagga Smith’s Shizuoka Blue Revs on Sunday in order to progress to the semi-finals.
The three teams that have already qualified for the semi-finals are Suntory, Kubota and the Panasonic Saitama Wild Knights, who are also an outside chance of clinching top spot should the former two teams fall short of victory this weekend.
The Wild Knights, who played Wallabies wing Marika Koroibete in a new-look position at centre, comfortably defeated the NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu 39-10 in Kashiwa on Sunday to sit just four points behind Suntory in third place.
NEC’s defeat has anchored them to the bottom of the Division One standings heading into the final weekend of play, meaning they need to beat the Yokohama Canon Eagles in Oita this weekend to avoid a promotion-relegation playoff match.
The Green Rockets are joined in the bottom three by the Black Rams and NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka, with all three teams in line to face the top three from Division Two for a place in Division One next year.
Israel Folau’s Shining Arcs are the only other team that could drop into the Division One relegation zone, as they sit two points clear of the Black Rams and four points ahead of the Green Rockets and Red Hurricanes.
The three Division Two sides that have confirmed their places in the promotion-relegations playoff matches are Quade Cooper and Will Genia’s Hanazono Kintetsu Liners, the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars and the Mie Honda Heat.
In Division Three, meanwhile, Toyota Shuttles Industries Aichi and the Munakata Sanix Blues will face off to determine which side will be the top seed for their promotion-relegation fixtures against the three bottom-ranked Division Two teams.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments