It hasn't taken Ardie Savea long to cause a stir in Japan

It hasn’t taken long for Ardie Savea to become a talisman for Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Japan Rugby League One.

The 32-year-old’s return, two seasons after the former World Rugby Player of the Year’s first 15-game stint in Kansai, has added further polish to a team that was already on the rise.

After going up four places in Dave Rennie’s first season at the helm (from ninth to fifth), Kobe improved to third last year after finishing the regular season in fifth, before upsetting each of the higher ranked Shizuoka BlueRevs and Saitama Wild Knights in the playoffs.

Incredibly, their win over Saitama was the first Kobe had achieved against that side since they won in the first year of the Top League – Japan’s first nationwide professional tournament – in 2003.

On Saturday, the Wild Knights stand in their way again, determined not to repeat last term, where a top-of-the-table regular season finish counted for nothing in the playoffs, when two losses condemned the competition’s inaugural victors to fourth; their lowest placing since League One began.

Fixture

Japan Rugby League One

Kobelco Kobe Steelers

40 - 24

Full-time

Saitama Wild Knights

All Stats and Data

Under new management, but with the Robbie Deans-stamp still evident, most notably in the resilience of their defence; Saitama visit Kobe yet to be bettered in eight matches under new coach Atsushi Kanazawa.

After imperiously flattening Toshiba Brave Lupus 46-0 on opening day, the Wild Knights have had to work a lot harder for their reward in recent weeks.

The free scoring league leaders – 36 tries in 640 minutes of action – were held to just one during their 13-6 win over BlackRams Tokyo three weeks ago, and were forced to come from behind last weekend, overturning a 14-5 deficit to beat bottom-placed Toyota Verblitz, 26-20.

While Rennie will be guarding his men against overconfidence, they are now on a seven-game unbeaten stretch.
This is their best since the title winning campaign of 2018 and buoyed by last weekend’s 34-33 win over Brave Lupus in a thriller, Kobe will fancy their chances of ending Saitama’s unbeaten start.

Kubota are just two points behind Saitama on the log and return to Spears Edoriku Field, where they are unbeaten in 23 matches, to take on a Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars side who were given a lift by their win over Mie Honda Heat.

Brave Lupus will be looking to put the disappointment from last Sunday behind them against Verblitz, while BlackRams Tokyo can put some distance between themselves and seventh placed Shizuoka BlueRevs if they can beat a faltering Urayasu D-Rocks.

The BlueRevs, who were formerly known as Yamaha, visit Honda on Sunday for the Motorcycle Derby, while the second leg of the day’s double-header has Tokyo Sungoliath hosting Yokohama Canon Eagles.