Arendse and Wiese to square off in JRLO opener

12/19/2024 12:50 PM

PREVIEW: Former Harlequins boss Tabai Matson will hunt his maiden win as Black Rams Tokyo coach when he takes his men to Suzuka on Saturday to face Mie Heat in the opening match of the fourth edition of Japan Rugby League One.

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Both sides only retained Division One status after featuring in last season's relegation battle.

Matson will be hoping the improvements he has made to the roster – which includes the acquisition of the second most capped All Black scrumhalf in history, TJ Perenara – will be enough to steer the Black Rams clear of choppy waters.

Perenara will make his debut for the club, in what is his second stint in Japan after he appeared for Red Hurricanes Osaka in the final edition of Top League.

Veteran Wallaby flanker Liam Gill also debuts, after an off-season transfer from D-Rocks, but Matson is without the 22-cap England bulldozer Nathan Hughes.

The Black Rams face a new look Heat, with coach Kieran Crowley having recruited former Saracens flyhalf Manu Vunipola.

Among a raft of new signings who will support the club's established foreign Test trio of Wallaby fullback Tom Banks.

Los Pumas flanker Pablo Matera and Springbok lock Franco Mostert, with the latter pair especially critical if Heat are likewise to avoid a bottom two placing, and further jeopardy in The relegation battle.

The Suzuka match kicks off the first afternoon of the league, being followed by the clash of the heavyweights as last season's beaten finalists, Wild Knights, tangle with their fierce rivals, Tokyo Sungoliath, who were stopped in the semifinals last season.

With 11 titles between them, the pair are two of the glamour clubs of the professional era in Japan, and share a long- entrenched rivalry, which has seen the Wild Knights beating Sungoliath in the Finals of each of the last Top League and maiden Japan Rugby League One, amid their current five-match winning run which dates to 2019.

Although Sungoliath have featured in the playoffs in every year since their last victory over the Wild Knights, they have endured a seven-year drought since the fifth of their titles in the 2016/17 season.

Flying in the pre-season, Sungoliath are under new management, with former Brave Blossoms flyhalf Kosei Ono taking charge, having transitioned into coaching after a glittering playing career which saw him a long termer on the club's playing roster, as well as a distinguished representative for Japan, for whom he started in the historic win over South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

After their respective injury troubles last season, Ono has been boosted by foreign Test players Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), Sean McMahon (Australia) and Sam Cane (New Zealand) all being available.

Cane will be going up against his former Chiefs teammate, Wild Knights loose forward Lachlan Boshier, for the first time since the All Blacks' arrival in Japan.

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Saturday's third match pits the Kwagga Smith-captained Blue Revs against Kobe Steelers, for whom former Glasgow and Scotland hooker George Turner will make his debut.

Turner is one of two Scottish internationals who will take their maiden bow on the league's opening weekend, with the 79-test veteran Richie Gray following suit 24 hours later, as Verblitz visit the 2022-23 champions Spears in downtown Tokyo.

While not new to Japan, the pair's countryman Greig Laidlaw will also enjoy a first of sorts when he takes charge of his first match in the capacity of head coach, as the former Scotland captain's D-Rocks head to Kanagawa to play Dynaboars.

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Newly promoted D-Rocks welcome No.8 Jasper Wiese to their ranks, but the South African will find a familiar face on the other side of halfway, as the tricky Springbok winger Kurt-Lee Arendse steps out in the league for the first time.

Brave Lupus meet last year's beaten semifinalists Yokohama Eagles in the section's final match of the weekend.

All Black flyhalf Richie Mo'unga and his national teammate Shannon Frizell will be suiting up for the defending champions, while scrumhalf Faf de Klerk returns for the Eagles after missing the bulk of last season's campaign due to injury.

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