Former All Black boss feeling the early pressure of star-laden Japan League

01/02/2025 02:02 AM

A six-team finals series might afford more time to make up for the ground lost early in the season.

However it also guarantees there will be more competition for those places, which could easily be sneaking into the back of the minds of the brains trusts at two of last season's semifinalists, Sungoliath and Eagles, as well as the always fancied Verblitz, as 2025 kicks off in Japan Rugby League One.

The new year greets all three with the win column still empty and the need for a boost – psychologically as much as numerically – starting to grow.

The anxiety will only increase the longer the wait for the first win goes on, and it will be another week at least for one of Sungoliath or Verblitz, who clash in the feature game of Saturday's programme.

While slow – and ultimately ruinous – starts to the season have become a familiarity for Verblitz, Sungoliath are in new territory.

Rookie coach Kosei Ono inherited a side that failed to win any of its last three matches in qualifying last term, but the subsequent defeats against Wild Knights and Black Rams that opened the new campaign has left Sungoliath without a win in five regular season games: a concerning statistic for one of the most famed clubs in Japanese history.

Although Verblitz have greater experience of starting slowly, their 'wisdom' is not exactly advantageous.

Two years ago, Steve Hansen's men won just two of their first eight and were left with too much to do, despite a strong finish with six wins from the last eight to end fifth.

A year later, four wins in the first eight compromised hopes again, with the five wins gathered from their last eight outings only good enough for seventh.

Verblitz are not desperate yet, but the urgency is growing, and Sungoliath is not an opponent they have enjoyed much success against, even if they did win last year's meeting.

Their 27-20 win on that occasion was just the second time Verblitz had beaten Sungoliath from the last 22 attempts.

Although not yet a club record, the Eagles' loss to Kobe Steelers on Sunday was their sixth in a row; albeit four
of which have been by margins of seven points or less, including on opening day against Brave Lupus.

This will give the Yokohama camp confidence that they are not too far away.

Eagles coach Keisuke Sawake's troubles are dwarfed by those facing his D-Rocks counterpart Greig Laidlaw, who
takes his team north to Fukushima for their Saturday afternoon date on the back of consecutive heavy defeats.

History suggested the start of the season would be difficult for the Division Two champions, but the value of a breakthrough win now could be incalculable to how their maiden topflight journey ends.

Mie Heat know all about the difficulties associated with promotion, and it is a testament as to how far they have come that skipper Pablo Matera's team head into the weekend as one of three unbeaten sides in the league, already having won one more match than they did in the entirety of last season.

The next step offers the chance to exorcise another demon from last term's tortuous ride as they face Kubota Spears on Sunday; an opponent who embarrassed Mie 75-0, scoring unanswered 11 tries, when the two sides met on the second weekend last season.

It was the biggest win of the Spears' history.

Brave Lupus host Kobe in the second of Sunday afternoon's matches, with the champions having won 19 of their last 21 matches, but not against Kobe, with whom they played out a thrilling 40-40 draw last term.

It was the highest-scoring draw ever recorded in Japan at professional level.

Saturday's other matches see the competition's two other unbeaten sides in action, with the Wild Knights visiting the Black Rams while Dynaboars host Blue Revs.

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