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Covid chaos wreaks havoc in League One as numerous games cancelled
Japan Rugby League One continues to be ravaged by Covid-19, with the competition forced to cancel almost half of its round three matches across three divisions.
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One of the round’s fixtures, a Division 1 clash between the Shizuoka Blue Revs – formerly known as Yamaha Jubilo – and Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath, had already been called off last week due to an outbreak of the virus in the Shizuoka squad.
That outbreak has prevented the Blue Revs from taking to the field at all this season, and now another four matches have been added to the scrapheap this weekend, three of which were Division 1 matches scheduled to take place on Saturday.
On Thursday, it was announced the clash between the Toshiba Brave Lupus and Tokyo Black Rams had been canned due to a positive Covid case in the Black Rams squad, gifting Toshiba an automatic five competition points.
Suntory – who boast international stars such as Damian McKenzie, Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon – were also handed five competition points to strengthen their lead at the summit of the Division 1 table to a four-point lead.
Elsewhere, Toyota Verblitz – headlined by Pieter-Steph du Toit, Patrick Tuipulotu and Kazuki Himeno – had their second match of the season cancelled as they were given five competition points after numerous Covid cases were reported in the NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes squad.
That leaves Toyota in fourth place on the Division 1 standings, despite the fact their only two victories were default wins due to Covid and the only actual match they have played so far was a 50-8 thumping at the hands of Suntory last week.
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The other Division 1 clash impacted by Covid-enforced cancellations this week was the match between the Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu and NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu.
The Shining Arcs, whose key player is ex-Wallabies star Israel Folau, have picked up numerous Covid cases, handing the Green Rockets their second default bonus-point victory of the season to move into the top four.
Furthermore, in Division 3, the fixture between the Kurita Water Gush and Toyota Shuttles Industries has also been cancelled due to a number of Covid cases in the Kurita squad.
As such, only seven matches will take place across League One this weekend, two of which are Division 1 match-ups, including the first clash of the year for the reigning champion Saitama Wild Knights, who host the Yokohama Canon Eagles on Sunday.
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The only round three match in Division 1 that is still scheduled to go ahead as planned is Kobelco Kobe Steelers vs Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay at NOEVIR Stadium in Kobe on Saturday.
In Division 2, the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars will host the Skyactivs Hiroshima in Minami-Ku on Saturday, as will the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners – spearheaded by Quade Cooper and Will Genia – against the Mie Honda Heat in Osaka.
On Sunday, ex-All Blacks pivot Brett Cameron will play his second match for the Kamaishi Seawaves against the Hino Red Dolphins in the only other Division 2 contest at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
Meanwhile, in Division 3, the Munakata Sanix Blues will host the Chugoku Red Regulions on Saturday before the Kyuden Voltex face the Shimizu Blue Sharks on Sunday.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments