Semi-finalists set to face off in opening round of Japan Rugby League One
Japan Rugby League One kicks off in Tokyo on Saturday with several of the heavy hitters squaring off to start the new season.
Defending champions, the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights host Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, while Sunday’s matches are highlighted by the clash between two of last season’s top four; beaten finalists Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath and semi-finalists Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay. There are three matches in Division One on each day of the opening weekend, with Divisions Two and Three also kicking off.
DIVISION ONE
Saturday December 17
RICOH BLACK RAMS TOKYO v MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES SANGAMIRHA DYANABOARS
Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, 12pm (JT)
After an encouraging pre-season which included a win over the Sungoliath, it’s time for the real thing as the Black Rams meet the newly promoted Dynaboars hoping for a jump start to the new campaign.
Coached by the former NSW Waratahs winger Peter Hewat, the Tokyo-based outfit has recruited shrewdly in the off-season, picking up former Wales international midfielder Hadleigh Parkes from Saitama, as well as second row Josh Goodhue from the (Auckland) Blues.
The biggest ‘catch’ is the 22-test English international Nathan Hughes, who has traded the Bristol jersey for that of the Black Rams in a move that could re-start the career of the Fiji-born backrower, especially after the change to World Rugby eligibility laws which allows players to return to their nation of origin. Hughes last wore the Red Rose in March of 2019 in the Calcutta Cup test against Scotland.
Parkes and Hughes will both start for the Black Rams, who were a quarterfinalist in 2021, but disappointed last term, losing their final five matches to finish just above the relegation zone.
They will see the Dynaboars as the ideal opponents to begin their transformation back to playoff contenders.
Back in Section One after promotion last season, the Dynaboars return sporting a fresh look. The well-travelled Glenn Delaney heads up the new coaching team, bringing with him experience from New Zealand’s NPC and Super Rugby, as well as the United Rugby Championship, from his time in Wales.
The 59-test former Wallaby Matt To’omua also has knowledge from both hemispheres, with the clubs’ prize recruit previously on the rosters of the Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels as well as the Leicester Tigers.
Although absent for round one, much will rest on the Australians’ leadership and all-round game if the Dynaboars are to keep themselves away from the relegation fight this season, but even without To’omua, they will feel the Black Rams are a game within their range.
Former rugby league star and 3-cap Wallaby centre Curtis Rona will debut for the Dynaboars after an off-season transfer from London Irish.
Last Year: Due to a combination of Covid and divisional change, these two are renewing a competitive acquaintance not seen since 2018. While training games are not a reliable guide, with youngsters often rolled out, the Black Rams did beat the Dynaboars 24-12 in pre-season.
TOYOTA VERBLITZ v SHIZUOKA BLUE REVS
Toyota Stadium, Aichi, 2.30pm (JT)
After a positive pre-season – with the good news culminating in the signing of England’s 70-cap former Wasps second-row Joe Launchbury on a one-year deal – Verblitz begins the campaign chasing at least a semi-final return after a below par debut in Japan Rugby League One saw them miss out by seven log points, while finishing fifth.
Director of Rugby Steve Hansen has been forced to reassemble his coaching team ahead of the new season after head coach Simon Cron departed to take over the Western Force in Super Rugby.
Verblitz has gone to New Zealand for his replacement, picking up former Otago NPC coach Ben Herring, who also brings experience from Major League Rugby in the United States.
Herring and Launchbury join a squad with plenty of firepower headed by star Japanese loose forward Kazuki Himeno. The former Highlander was the best player on the field during the Brave Blossoms’ narrow loss to the All Blacks and will be introduced to the new club season from the bench.
While Verblitz is resting Wille le Roux, fellow South African Pieter Steph du Toit faces a teammate from the recent Springbok tour, with loose forward Kwagga Smith the new co-captain of the Blue Revs.
Along with a useful pre-season, the Blue Revs have been bolstered off the field by the signing of a partnership with European titans Stade Toulousain which promises major benefits for the future.
Even though last season was blighted by four Covid-enforced defaults, including in each of the first three rounds, the Blue Revs were highly competitive, beating the semi-final-bound Spears, and pipped at the post by a converted try in injury time by the eventual champions, Saitama.
They are not to be underrated.
Last Year: After Toyota took the first tie by default, the Blue Revs were within five minutes of a win in the rematch, leading by two until a 75th minute try got Verblitz over the line 18-15.
SAITAMA PANASONIC WILD KNIGHTS v TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO
Kumagaya Stadium, Saitama, 2.40pm (JT)
The defending champions will field a settled line-up as they welcome fellow semi-finalists Brave Lupus Tokyo, with the main changes coming in the international ranks, where midfielder Damien de Allende has returned to the club, while fellow South African Lood de Jager has replaced Englishman George Kruis in the squad, although he will miss the opening day due to injury.
As well as the two Springboks, the Wild Knights were well represented on the recent Japan tour, with seven players returning, as will the previously injured Brave Blossoms flyhalf, Rikiya Matsuda, who is back after having missed the end of the last competition as well as Japan’s November internationals.
One player who skipped the November tests to be fresh for the new campaign is star winger Marika Koroibete, who terrorised international defences midyear wearing the Wallaby jersey, after having done the same earlier in 2022 during his debut season for the Wild Knights.
Having worked on the finer details of his game with Wild Knights mentor Robbie Deans, expect the Fijian-born winger to be even more damaging in his second season, which is bad news for a Brave Lupus outfit that finished fourth last term, and led the eventual champions at Kumagaya before being over-run in the second half.
Todd Blackadder has added South African midfielder Burger Odendaal from Wasps but will largely rely on the same squad that last season won 11 matches.
Rising star Warner Dearns in the second row, former All Black centre Seta Tamanivalu, and the long-serving backrower Michael Leitch, will again be Blackadder’s key men.
Last Year: Two second half tries from Koroibete helped the Wild Knights see off a gallant Brave Lupus, who led by two at halftime and were tied 18 apiece until the 69th minute.
Sunday December 18
NEC GREEN ROCKETS TOKATSU v HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS
Kashiwanoha Park Stadium, Chiba, 2.30pm (JT)
The man for all seasons (and teams) Michael Cheika gets his next project underway as the Green Rockets host the Osaka-based Liners.
The Argentina and Lebanon (rugby league) coach has been planning from afar wearing his Green Rockets’ Director of Rugby hat, but a training game win over an albeit development Saitama outfit offers hope, while the playing resources have been boosted by the arrival of the 72-test Wallaby halfback Nick Phipps from London Irish, alongside the widely travelled winger Taqele Naiyaravoro.
Very much a ‘citizen of the world’, the burly Fijian winger returns to Japan having previously appeared for the Wild Knights, alongside stints with the Waratahs, Glasgow Warriors, and Northampton Saints, as well as two tests for a Cheika-coached Wallabies side.
The acquisition of the pair adds to a core of experience up front which centres around former Wales Grand Slam-winning second-row Jake Ball, and the Maori All Blacks representatives, hooker Ash Dixon and backrow Whetukamokamo Douglas.
Kintetsu return to the top section as Division Two champions but will be without Wallaby star Quade Cooper for at least the first part of the campaign, after the flyhalf injured his Achilles during Australia’s opening test of this year’s Rugby Championship in Argentina.
His absence will be covered by former Hurricanes’ flyhalf Jackson Garden Bachop, while the 26-cap former Scotland lock Ben Turis bolsters the tight five.
In Cooper’s absence, much will fall on the shoulders of his usual ‘partner in crime’ Will Genia, who should relish a match-up with Phipps, his former Wallaby understudy.
Last Year: Separated by a division in recent years, the two clubs could not have had more diverse fortunes in the maiden Japan Rugby League One. While Kintetsu won eight of its 10 matches, finishing with a points differential of +315 as it secured automatic promotion, the Green Rockets’ only two ‘wins’ in the regular season were both defaults by Covid-stricken rivals. NEC split the promotion/relegation series with the third-placed Honda Heat from Division Two; their 33-10 success in the first leg giving them a comfortable points differential win, despite a two-point loss in the second game.
TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH v KUBOTA SPEARS FUNABASHI TOKYO BAY
Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo, 2.30pm (JT)
Last year’s beaten finals Tokyo Sungoliath host the third-placed Kubota Spears with both sides looking for fast starts to reinforce their claims as championship contenders
The teams are advantaged by settled squads with the big change at Sungoliath seeing the departure of the competition’s top point-scorer from last season, All Black Damien McKenzie, who has returned to Super Rugby in New Zealand. He has been replaced by fellow All Black Aaron Cruden who transferred from Kobe.
Star wing/fullback Kotaro Matsushima is the other big name signing. He re-joins from French club Clermont Auvergne, having impressed for the Brave Blossoms in the interim.
Sungoliath supervising coach Kiyonori Tanaka has made a smart move bringing in the highly regarded Crusaders midfield back Isaiah Punivai as cover for Wallaby star Samu Kerevi, who injured his knee playing for Australia at the Commonwealth Games Sevens. Kerevi may not be ready until the tail end of the season.
As always, powerful backrow Tevita Tatafu will be a massive player for Sungoliath. He caused the All Blacks plenty of problems during October’s test in Tokyo, after scoring six tries in Japan Rugby League One’s maiden season.
Another Tevita, winger Tevita Li, will be on the try trail after finishing as the top try-scorer in this year’s NPC competition in New Zealand.
The Spears’ charge is led by the world’s best hooker, Springbok Malcolm Marx, who can expect good support again from Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley and All Blacks midfielder Ryan Crotty.
Last season, Frans Ludeke’s men finished third after having their title aspirations ended in the semi-finals for the season straight year.
Although the Spears’ need to make an early statement is probably greater, Sungoliath have been their ‘kryptonite’ in recent years, with Kubota not having beaten Suntory since they returned to the premier section in 2015. Their eight straight defeats include two semi-finals.
Last Year: Despite out-scoring Sungoliath by five tries to four, the accurate boot of McKenzie proved the difference as the Spears came up short by four points. Suntory held their nerve to win 33-29, despite the concession of a 74th minute try setting up a frantic finish. The loss proved pivotal, with the Spears subsequently missing out on a home semi-final by three log points.
YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES v KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS
Spring Mitsuzawa Stadium, Kanagawa, 2.30pm (JT)
Sixth (Canon) meets seventh (Kobe) from last season’s ladder, as both look to put the frustration of last term in the rear-view mirror, by beginning the new campaign on a bright note.
Although they won 10 matches, and matched their previous best placing, the Eagles fluffed their lines at the end when a maiden semi-final appearance was a possibility. Even so, the move to Yokohama worked out well, with the team warmly received in its first year at their new base, while the playing roster continues to improve, firmly establishing the Eagles as a contender.
Springbok and Sale halfback Faf de Klerk is the biggest off-season prize, joining fellow South Africans centre Jesse Kriel, and goal-kicking whiz SP Marais as key figures. Marais, who only took up kicking duties last term after Brave Blossoms’ veteran Yu Tamura was injured, clocked a 92 per cent success rate.
Kobe, who won the Top League in 2019, have brought in All Blacks midfielder Ngane Laumape from Stade Francais (Paris) to strengthen their backline threat.
Cruden’s move to Sungoliath clears the way for boom youngster Seungsin Lee to run the cutter from flyhalf, having made a big splash this year for Japan.
To help manage the 21-year-old’s workload, head coach Nick Holten has brought in the well-performed Beauden Waaka, who excelled for Taranaki in New Zealand’s NPC, as well as for the New England Freejacks in Major League Rugby.
Former Sharks, Ulster and Bulls backrow Marcel Coetzee is another notable signing while ex-rugby league winger Sione Tapuosi, who played for each of the Canberra Raiders and the Parramatta Eels in Australia’s NRL, is a potentially exciting addition. Tapuosi schooled at St Joseph’s Nudgee College, a nursery of great rugby talent in Brisbane, which can claim 25 Wallabies among its Alumni, including former skipper Rocky Elsom, Wallaby and Queensland great Paul McLean and recent test star James O’Connor.
Last Year: Fresh from a quarter-final finish in the last Top League, the Eagles arrived in Kobe still in with a shot of the maiden JRLO semi-finals but departed with those hopes over after a crushing 42-33 defeat. While the nine-point margin doesn’t look too bad, the reality was worse, with Kobe romping to a 42-19 lead before easing off in the last 10 minutes which enabled the visitors two face-saving – if not competition-threatening – converted tries.
DIVISION TWO
All eyes will be on the merger club Urayasu D-Rocks as the section favourites mark their debut with a trip to MIE to face the Honda Heat. Although studded with stars, D-Rocks could have had an easier opening, with the Heat themselves well equipped after picking up former Argentine captain Pablo Matera and Wallaby fullback Tom Banks in the off-season. Both will start on opening day.
This pair join the indefatigable Springbok second-row Franco Mostert, who will come off the bench, and the presence of the trio should ensure the promotion chasing Heat make life uncomfortable for Israel Folau and the rest of the D-Rocks’ big names.
Elsewhere, Kamaishi opens with a trip to Tokyo and what could be a difficult meeting with the Hino Red Dolphins, who twice put more than fifty points on the Seawaves last term and have added Wallaby lock Rory Arnold and the underrated former New Zealand Super Rugby flyhalf Simon Hickey to their roster.
Sunday should see the Japan Rugby League One debut of French legend Yoann Maestri, as the 65-cap Les Bleus second-row takes his place in the Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi line-up that welcomes Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks to the Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium.
With former England lock James Gaskell now also making Aichi his home, the Shuttles could field an intimidating second row against a Blues Sharks outfit it narrowly beat by five in their first meeting last term before a blowout the second time around.
Saturday September 17
HINO RED DOLPHINS v KAMAISHI SEAWAVES at Tokyo, 1pm (JT)
HONDA HEAT v URAYASU D-ROCKSs at MIE,1pm (JT)
Sunday September 18
TOYOTA INDUSTRIES SHUTTLES AICHI v SHIMIZU KOTO BLUE SHARKS at Aichi, 2.30pm
DIVISION THREE
The debut of the NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes marks the opening of the third tier, with the former Division One club dropping to the third section after parent company NTT consolidated its sporting operations at the end of the last competition, focusing the bulk of its professional playing strength on the new Urayasu D-Rocks club.
The Red Hurricanes, who have Aussie Matt Cockbain at the helm, begin their new life at home against the Kyushudenryoku Kyuden Voltex, whose main off-season news was the signing of the well-travelled former Brumbies flanker Colby Fainga’a.
While Fainga’a misses week one, former Black Rams’ legend Colin Bourke will take his maiden bow for the Red Hurricanes, against a Voltex side that includes the New Zealand-born former Scotland flyhalf, Phil Burleigh.
The other game sees a Hiroshima derby with the demoted Mazda Skyactives Hiroshima welcoming the Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions to the Balcom BMW Stadium.
With the two sides having won just three matches between them last term, Saturday offers the chance for early local bragging rights as well as a positive season start.
Saturday September 18
MAZDA SKYACTIVES HIROSHIMA v CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER RED REGULIONS at Hiroshima, 1pm (JT)
NTT DOCOMO RED HURRICANES v KYUSHUDENRYOKU KYUDEN VOLTEX at Osaka, 2.30pm (JT)
Comments on RugbyPass
Great insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
1 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
36 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
5 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
5 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
5 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
36 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
36 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
36 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
36 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
36 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
5 Go to comments