Japan Rugby League One: Round One Preview

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

Both sides only retained Division One status after featuring in last season’s Replacement Battle, and 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 NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka in the final edition of Top League. Veteran Wallaby backrower Liam Gill also debuts, after an off-season transfer from Urayasu D-Rocks, but Matson is without the 22-cap ex-England bulldozer Nathan Hughes.

The Black Rams face a new-look Mie, with coach Kieran Crowley having recruited ex-Saracens flyhalf Manu Vunipola among a raft of new signings. These additions will support the club's established foreign test trio of Wallaby fullback Tom Banks, Los Pumas backrower Pablo Matera, and Springbok second rower Franco Mostert. The latter pair will be especially critical if the Heat are to likewise avoid a bottom-two placing and further jeopardy in The Replacement 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, Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, tangle with their fierce rivals, Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath, who were stopped in the semi-finals last term.

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. This rivalry has seen the Wild Knights beating Sungoliath in the finals of both the last Top League and the maiden Japan Rugby League One, amid their current five-match winning run dating back to 2019.

Although Suntory Sungoliath have featured in the playoffs every year since their last victory over the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, they have endured a seven-year drought since claiming their fifth title in the 2016-17 season. Flying in the pre-season, Sungoliath are under new management, with former Brave Blossoms flyhalf Kosei Ono taking charge.

Ono transitioned into coaching after a glittering playing career, which saw him as a long-term member of the club's playing roster and a distinguished representative for Japan, starting 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 go up against his former Chiefs teammate, Wild Knights backrower Lachlan Boshier, for the first time since the All Blacks' arrival in Japan.

Saturday's third match pits the Kwagga Smith-captained Shizuoka Blue Revs against Kobelco Kobe Steelers, for whom ex-Glasgow and Scotland hooker George Turner will make his debut. Turner is one of two Scottish internationals making their league debut on the opening weekend, with 79-test veteran Richie Gray following suit 24 hours later as Toyota Verblitz visits the 2022-23 champions Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay in downtown Tokyo.

While not new to Japan, their compatriot Greig Laidlaw will also enjoy a first of sorts when he takes charge of his first match as head coach. The former Scotland captain's Urayasu D-Rocks head to Kanagawa to play Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars. Newly promoted D-Rocks welcome backrower Jasper Wiese to their ranks, but the South African will face a familiar opponent in Springbok winger Kurt Lee Arendse, making his league debut.

Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo meets last year's beaten semi-finalists Yokohama Canon Eagles in the section's final match of the weekend. All Black flyhalf Richie Mo'unga and national teammate Shannon Frizell suit up for the defending champions, while scrumhalf Faf de Klerk returns for the Eagles after missing much of last season due to injury.

Divisions Two & Three

Demoted Hanazono Kintetsu Liners host fellow title contender Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi in the feature match of an enlarged second tier, now featuring eight sides. Hanazono won Division Two, and promotion, in the inaugural season of Japan Rugby League One and will hope to repeat the feat. Veteran Australian flyhalf Quade Cooper, a key architect of their past success, remains with the team and is joined by All Black and Blues star Akira Ioane, their major off-season recruit.

Cooper, part of a formidable Hanazono bench, will go head-to-head with five-cap Englishman Freddie Burns. Burns may have his hands full, following the Japanese debut of ex-NSW Waratahs flyhalf Will Harrison, who starts the match. Newcomer and former Exeter Chiefs centre Tom Hendrickson also lines up for the home side.

Promoted outfits Hino Red Dolphins and Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks are paired for their Division Two debuts. Their three contests last term saw Hino win twice, while division regulars Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex and Japan Steel Kamaishi Seawaves do battle in Fukuoka.

Wayne Pivac, who suffered five consecutive defeats to end his maiden season in Japan, and his new skipper, ex-Wallaby scrumhalf Nick Phipps, will hope to replicate last year's opening-day success when NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu became the first – and so far, only – team to record a regular season win over Urayasu D-Rocks. The Green Rockets open with a visit to Red Hurricanes Osaka.

Division Three begins with the Hiroshima derby as Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima, who took the honours two games to one last term, tackle city rivals Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions. Newcomers LeRIRO Fukuoka and Yakult Levins Toda face each other in their debuts, while SECOM Sayama Rugguts host Kurita Water Gush Akishima in their league entry.

Japan Rugby League One – Round One Fixtures (all kick-offs UK Time – Watch on RugbyPass TV)

Division One

Saturday, December 21

• Mie Honda Heat v Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo; at Suzuka, 3:10am GMT
• Shizuoka Blue Revs v Kobelco Kobe Steelers; at Shizuoka, 5:00am GMT
• Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath v Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights; at Tokyo, 5:30am GMT

Sunday, December 22

• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars v Urayasu D-Rocks; at Kanagawa, 5:30am GMT
• Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay v Toyota Verblitz; at Tokyo, 5:30am GMT
• Yokohama Canon Eagles v Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo; at Kanagawa, 5:30am GMT

Division Two

Saturday, December 21

• Hanazono Kintetsu Liners v Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi; at Osaka, 5:30am GMT
• Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex v Japan Steel Kamaishi Seawaves; at Fukuoka, 5:30am GMT

Sunday, December 22

• Hino Red Dolphins v Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks; at Gunma, 3:00am GMT
• NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka v NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu; at Osaka, 5:30am GMT

Division Three

Saturday, December 21

• Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions v Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima; at Hiroshima, 4:00am GMT

Sunday, December 22

• LeRIRO Fukuoka v Yakult Levins Toda; at Fukuoka, 3:00am GMT
• SECOM Sayama Rugguts v Kurita Water Gush Akishima; at Tochigi, 4:00am GMT

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