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Willie le Roux set for first League One match of 2022 in all-star clash

By Alex McLeod
(Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Springboks star Willie le Roux is primed to make his first Japan Rugby League One appearance this season after being named to start for Toyota Verblitz this weekend.

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Toyota face the Toshiba Brave Lupus at Komazawa Olympic Park in Tokyo on Saturday in what’s set to be an all-star clash headlined by the inclusion of Le Roux at fullback for the visitors.

The 32-year-old was absent from Toyota’s only match this season, a 50-8 defeat at the hands of Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath a fortnight ago.

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Le Roux’s Springboks teammate Pieter-Steph du Toit and All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu both made their Toyota debuts in that fixture, which is the only match the side has played this season due to Covid-enforced cancellations of other games.

Both of Toyota’s fixtures against the Shizuoka Blue Revs and NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka were called off due to an outbreak of the virus in the opposition camps, resulting in 10 competition points being awarded to Toyota.

As such, Toyota currently lie in fourth place in Division 1, the top tier of League One, with two default wins and a loss to their name.

Trailing the Black Rams Tokyo, Kubota Spears Funabashi Bay Tokyo and NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu only by points difference, victory over Toshiba could lift Toyota into top spot.

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The inclusion of Le Roux, who has been named to start alongside Du Toit, Tuipulotu and captain Kazuki Himeno, may go some way to catapulting Toyota up the table, but they will have to overcome a Toshiba outfit that also has no shortage of star power.

The Brave Lupus have named most of their top foreigners for this weekend’s bout, including ex-All Blacks trio Matt Todd, Tom Taylor and Seta Tamanivalu.

Toshiba will, however, be without Kiwi-born Brave Blossoms lock Warner Dearns and former Chiefs midfielder Johnny Fa’auli, both of whom have been suspended for indiscretions in the side’s win over the Red Hurricanes two weeks ago.

Elsewhere throughout the league, Kubota and the Green Rockets will go toe-to-toe in a clash as the second and third-placed teams in Division 1.

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Kubota have signified the importance of the match by promoting Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx into a starting role after he featured off the bench in last week’s defeat to the Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Kobe.

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The 2019 World Cup winner is joined in Kubota’s starting lineup by former Wallabies first-five Bernard Foley, while ex-All Blacks midfielder Ryan Crotty has been demoted to the bench.

NEC, meanwhile, have used the match as a chance to hand former Highlanders co-captain and Maori All Blacks stalwart Ash Dixon a chance to earn his debut for the club after having missed the chance to do so in recent weeks due to match cancellations.

Both of NEC’s last two matches were called off as a result of Covid outbreaks, meaning their last match came three weeks ago when they fell to a season-opening defeat to the Yokohama Canon Eagles in Kashiwa.

Nevertheless, the Green Rockets still find themselves in a top four position, and the inclusion of Dixon in their match day side will boost their chances of an upset win over Kubota.

NEC also have the services of Welsh lock Jake Ball and former Super Rugby stars Whetu Douglas, Fletcher Smith and Tom Marshall, all of whom have been named to start.

In Saturday’s other Division 1 fixture, Kobe host the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in a battle of the heavyweights at Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium.

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The Wild Knights, the reigning Top League champions, have retained Wallabies star Marika Koroibete in their starting backline after his standout debut performance against the Canon Eagles last weekend.

Koroibete is joined by a raft of star figures, including ex-England lock George Kruis and former Wales midfielder Hadleigh Parkes, in the starting lineup.

Numerous Japanese internationals, such as Keita Inagaki, captain Atsushi Sakate, Ben Gunter, Jack Cornelsen and Dylan Riley, are also present in Panasonic’s starting team.

Kobe, on the other hand, have kept ex-All Blacks playmaker Aaron Cruden at No 10 as he looks to guide the Steelers to a second successive victory after last week’s tight win over Kubota.

Cruden is accompanied by former Blues lock Gerard Cowley-Tuioiti and Brave Blossoms representatives Isileli Nakajima, Tim Lafaele and Ryohei Yamanaka in Kobe’s starting team.

No Division 2 matches are scheduled for Saturday, while the Chugoku Red Regulions will look to retain their place at the top of Division 3 when they host Toyota Shuttles Industries in Yamaguchi.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This 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”?

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john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But 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.

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FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
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