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Ben Smith and Michael Hooper named to make long-awaited Top League debuts this weekend
Former All Blacks star Ben Smith and Wallabies captain Michael Hooper will make their long-awaited Top League debuts for their respective clubs on Saturday.
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Smith has been named to start on the right wing for Kobelco Steelers in their clash against NEC Green Rockets in Osaka this weekend, while Hooper will feature off the bench for Toyota Verblitz against Toshiba Brave Lupus in Nagoya.
Their highly-anticipated forays into the Japanese club competition has been a long time coming after COVID-19 outbreaks within the Toyota Verblitz, Suntory Sungoliath and Canon Eagles squads forced the kick-off of the 2021 season to be delayed by a month.
However, the Top League finally looks set to get underway over the coming days, with Smith, who joined the Steelers following a brief spell with Pau in the Top 14 last season, lining up alongside some familiar faces for the reigning champions.
The 34-year-old will be joined by a raft of former All Blacks and Highlanders teammates at Hanazono Rugby Stadium, such as lock Brodie Retallick, blindside flanker and captain Tom Franklin, first-five Hayden Parker and second-five Richard Buckman.
There are also a few Japanese internationals from the highly-successful 2019 Brave Blossoms World Cup squad scattered throughout the starting side, including centre Tim Lafaele and prop Isileli Nakajima.
Furthermore, former Chiefs wing Ataata Moeakiola has been named on the bench to face a Green Rockets side – spearheaded by former England first-five Alex Goode – that the Steelers will be heavily favoured to beat.
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Hooper, meanwhile, is also in line for his first appearance in the Top League since embarking on his six-month sabbatical away from Australian rugby.
The 105-test veteran has been left out of Toyota’s run-on side, though, and will instead come off the pine against the Toshiba Brave Lupus at Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium.
That has denied Hooper the chance to start alongside former All Blacks captain Kieran Read, who has been named to start at No. 8, in the back row, although the pair could still yet feature together later in the match.
Earlier this week, Read spoke of his newfound friendship with Hooper as teammates after years of butting heads as captains of the All Blacks and Wallabies.
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“We actually get along really well,” he said. “It’s probably a bit strange for a lot of people looking at it, but it’s been working well so far.”
Japan Rugby Top League 2021 Round 1.
Toyota Verblitz vs. Toshiba Brave Lupus
20th Feb. 2021
Paloma Mizuho Rugby Field
14:00 K.O???????????????????????#?????????????#toyotaverblitz#???????#??????#topleague #???? pic.twitter.com/4fw0WBvHuS
— ?????????? TOYOTA VERBLITZ (@toyotaverblitz) February 18, 2021
Hooper won’t be the only notable Toyota recruit making their first appearance this weekend, as former Highlanders midfielder Rob Thompson will don the No. 13 jersey alongside Japanese international and ex-Blues player Male Sa’u in the midfield.
In the forward pack, lock Michael Allardice will also make his debut since shifting north from the Chiefs, and will run out alongside World Cup-winning Springboks star Willie le Roux, who starts from fullback.
Toshiba have equipped themselves well to face their well-stocked counterparts, with Brave Blossoms captain and ex-Chiefs loose forward Michael Leitch and former All Blacks flanker Matt Todd set to go head-to-head in a back row battle with Read and Hooper.
2?20?(?)??????????????2021
?1?NEC?????????#??????????????? #kobelcosteelers#topleague#???? #rugby #aigrugby#?? #kobe pic.twitter.com/va7ZeX8vuD— ?????????????? (@kobe_steelers) February 18, 2021
The midfield contest also holds plenty of intrigue, as Sa’u and Thompson will be marked by former Crusaders, Hurricanes and Maori All Blacks veteran Tim Bateman and three-test All Blacks powerhouse Seta Tamanivalu, who will make his Top League debut since joining from French club Bordeaux.
Elsehwere, ex-Highlanders and Hurricanes playmaker Fletcher Smith and 15-test Wallabies flanker Liam Gill will both make their first appearances for NTT Communications Shining Arcs, who face off against a Honda Heat side that boasts Springboks lock Franco Mostert in the second row.
In Narita, seasoned internationals Ryan Crotty, Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx will all feature in varying capacities for Kubota Spears against Paddy Ryan and Lomano Lemeki’s Munakata Sanix Blues, while the Ricoh Black Rams will unleash Australian trio Issac Lucas, Joe Tomane and Matt McGahan on the Panasonic Wild Knights.
Teams for the matches to be played on Sunday, including Beauden Barrett’s Suntory Sungoliath, are expected to be announced on Friday.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments