Japan Rugby League One: Round 13

The prize of top of the table for the end of the regular season in Division Two goes on the line when Israel Folau’s Urayasu D-Rocks meets Pablo Matera’s Mie Honda Heat in Japan Rugby League One this weekend.

While there are still four more Match Days to play in Division One, round robin play in the lower section finishes early, before the teams move on to ‘finalisation’ games after next weekend’s bye round.

The ‘finalisation’ games will determine both the division title, but also which ranking the top three carry into the promotion/relegation against the bottom three from Division One, which start on the first weekend in May.

Fittingly, the draw has thrown up the division’s top two teams in the regular season’s final round.
While Folau hasn’t featured since round three, new team Urayasu D-Rocks – who were formed through the combining of the professional player wing of each of the NTT Communications Shining Arcs and NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes – have flown through the season to date unbeaten.

Their closest game was against Honda, who could deny them a top-of-the-table finish in the club’s maiden season.

Elsewhere, Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights and Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay will continue their charge towards semi-final qualification in Division One, with unbeaten Panasonic needing just two points against Toyota Verblitz on Saturday to assure themselves of a play-offs berth with three games to spare.

Birth has been the catch phrase around their training base at Saitama of late, with Mark Abbott, Asaeli Ai Valu and Marika Koroibete all having just returned to duty after welcoming new additions to their families, while Takuya Yamasawa will take his ‘turn’ on ‘baby watch’ this weekend, and other players are scheduled to follow.

While fifth-placed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo need to take down Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo to keep the pressure on fourth-placed Yokohama Canon Eagles, who face Kintetsu Liners, a ‘mini-league’ – currently headed by the Black Rams – has broken out between the bottom seven clubs, adding a further element of intrigue to the end of the regular season