Watch: Brodie Retallick powers over to continue remarkable try-scoring run

All Blacks great Brodie Retallick continues to lead the way as the top try-scorer in Japan Rugby League One this season, delivering another standout performance as the Kobelco Kobe Steelers secured a 41-20 win over the Shizuoka BlueRevs.

Retallick has gone to an all-new level during the 2025/26 season in Japan, leading incoming All Blacks Head Coach Dave Rennie to say earlier this month the second-rower is both “stronger” and “fitter than he’s ever been.”

The 2015 Rugby World Cup winner set the tone earlier in the JRLO season, touching down for a four-try haul against TJ Perenara’s BlackRams Tokyo in January. That was just one Player of the Match-calibre performance to speak of from the current campaign.

Faulua Makisi from the Kubota Spears and Matt Vaega from the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars share equal second on the try-scoring standings with 10 five-pointers to their name, but there’s some daylight between those two and Retallick in first.

Retallick crossed for his 14^th try of the season in a 21-point win over the BlueRevs in Shizuoka last weekend, now within four of the competition record. The Steelers are third on the ladder, behind Bernard Foley’s Kubota Spears and Marika Koroibete’s Saitama Wild Knights.

Gerard Cowley-Tuioti opened the scoring for the Steelers against the BlueRevs, before Shunsuke Uenobo and Itsuki Kamimura helped the visitors run away with a 21-point lead inside the opening quarter of the contest.

The BlueRevs struck back with a Kakeru Okumura penalty goal, but the Steelers had the final point-scoring say of the half with Tali Ioasa crossing for the team’s fourth try. Seungsin Lee added the extras, giving Kobe a 26-3 lead at the break.

Kazuma Ueda and Shuntaro Kitamura traded tries during the second term before Retallick got on the scoresheet with a 62nd-minute effort. Anton Lienert-Brown was stopped a metre short of the try line before Retallick powered over with a pick and drive in the next phase.

Teammates flocked to the try-scorer, who had put Kobe in a commanding position with less than 20 minutes to play. That ended up being Kobe’s final try of the afternoon, with Bryn Gatland adding to the team’s score with a late penalty goal.

Without taking a single shot at goal this season, Retallick is ninth overall for total points in the first division this season. Teammates Gatland and Seungsin Lee occupy other spots inside the top 10, while former Wallaby Bernard Foley is first overall with 150 points in 13 matches.