League One’s third season is in the books after a record-breaking campaign.
A total of 1,142,294 fans attended games across the three divisions with a drastic increase from last season (745,311) and the 2022 campaign (484,07).
Sunday’s enthralling final at the National Stadium attracted 56,486 fans which was another significantly increase from 41,794 a year ago.
RugbyJP presents below Part 1 of our club-by-club report for the division one 2023-2024 season.
Toshiba Brave Lupus: 1st
Toshiba became the third different winner League One winner in as many seasons on Sunday.
Toshiba avenged their sole loss this season when they defeated Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights 24-20 in the biggest game of the season.
Star man Richie Mo'unga led the way, as he has all season, as he not only steered his team to the title but also earned the MVP award in his first season in Japan.
That feat means that Mo'unga follows in the fabled footsteps of legendary countryman Dan Carter who enjoyed a double triumph with Kobe Steelers in 2018.
Majestic Mo'unga made 30 passes, gained 23 metres from 10 carries and beat six defenders in addition to scoring nine points and making his team tick with a typically composed display.
Fellow All Black 10’s Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie found Japan’s top-flight more challenging with Suntory Sungoliath before the former finished seventh with Toyota Verblitz this season.
Toshiba has developed their young domestic talent in recent years to complement their seasoned veterans such as Michael Leitch.
Hooker Mamoru Harada, 25, lock Warner Dearns, 22, flanker Takeshi Sasaki, 27, winger Atsuki Kuwayama, 26 and utility back Takuro Matsunaga, 25, are among those who have impressed this season.
The marquee signings of world-class All Blacks, Mo'unga and Shannon Frizell, who are in the prime years of their careers, inspired their team alongside the talismanic crowd favourite Leitch while box office wing Jone Naikabula showed why he’s one of the most lethal finishers in the game.
The challenge for Todd Blackadder is to retain the services of his key players with a host of international clubs tracking their leading names.
Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights: 2nd
Robbie Deans’ side registered a faultless regular season and humbled Super Rugby Pacific powerhouse the Chiefs 38-14 in February in the first Cross-Border series.
The Kumagaya-based side squeezed past a gutsy Yokohama Canon Eagles side 20-17 in the play-off semi-finals before narrowly falling short in a dramatic final.
Deans and his players still deserve tremendous credit for another excellent campaign as they appeared in their third consecutive League One Final.
They are one of the most consistent club sides in the game and had no desire to make a headline-grabbing major summer signing.
Saitama boasted the most potent attack and tightest defence with balance and continuity the key to their domestic dominance.
The tightly-knit side are blessed with know-how and experience across the field and for them – while winning has become more than a habit – it never appears that they think they have a divine right to ever just turn up, go through the motions and come out victorious.
Deans picked nine of the same 15 that started last year’s final and will aim to keep the bulk of his squad together again for another title bid in 2024-2025.
Sunday’s final served as an emotional farewell for Japanese legend Shota Horie, 38, and 32-year-old scrum-half Keisuke Uchida who are hanging up their boots. No doubt Deans, who is one of the wisest recruiters at a top club in Japan – making sure he gets value for every buck the club spends – will have already submitted his modest summer wish list.
Suntory Sungoliath: 3rd
Suntory Sungoliath hit the headlines with the signings of two of the game’s highest profile players in back-to-back World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe and All Blacks captain Sam Cane.
The duo of wing Tevita Li (Mie Honda Heat) and centre Samu Kerevi (Urayasu D-Rocks) were shown the door to to free up some financial resources and the latter’s category C spot (capped by an international team other than Japan).
The Fuchu outfit also elected to replace injured Welshman Gareth Anscombe in December with Argentina stalwart Nicolas Sanchez who went on to start only one League One match.
Rookie fly-half Mikiya Takamoto, 22, established himself as the club’s first-choice 10 early in the season and proved to be a revelation.
Takamoto scored 157 points and earned high praise from Mo'unga while also scooping the League One Rookie of The Year award on Monday.
Takamoto looks set for a head-to-head battle with Rikiya Matsuda for the Brave Blossoms’ number 10 jersey this summer.
Utility back Seiya Ozaki, 28, who only has four caps for his country, chipped in with 14 tries to earn the Best Line Breaker award while hooker and captain Kosuke Horikoshi, 28, who is also devoid of international caps with just seven to his name, scored 13 tries.
Suntory saw their leading Japanese players upstage their international players and there should be a lesson there for the club, who has brought in Barrett, McKenzie, Kolbe and Cane in recent years without capturing the League One title.
Suntory, who remain a major force in Japan’s top-flight and feel like a lock for the play-offs every season, last won the title in 2017-2018 season when it was still known was Top League.
Kiyonori Tanaka’s side finished their season on a high with a last-ditch 40-33 win over Yokohama Canon Eagles in the third-place play-off on Saturday and will hope to see Sam Cane, who has just signed a three-year contract extension, get through next season injury-free.
Yokohama Canon Eagles: 4th
Yokohama Canon Eagles produced another commendable season with a fourth-place regular season finish before a late loss to Suntory.
Yokohama produced one of their best performances of the season in a three-point loss to Panasonic in the semi-finals as they threw everything, for all 80 minutes, at the pre-season favourites.
Buoyed by the return of two-time World Cup winner Jessie Kriel in April following a hand injury, Yokohama finished the season well and Faf de Klerk, who underwent minor knee surgery in February, thrust himself into proceedings as the water boy for their final two games showing his commitment to the club’s cause.
Fiji-born wing Viliame Takayawa shone with 12 tries and looks certain to be part of Eddie Jones’ summer plans as he qualifies for Japan on residency grounds.
Judo black belt Takayawa, 27, who fought for Fiji at the 2013 Cadet World Judo Championships in Miami, USA, has power and pace in abundance and missed their last game after injuring himself when he made a try-saving tackle in the semi-finals.
Uncapped Japanese hooker Shunta Nakamura, 30, who was formerly on the books of Suntory, had a season to remember with a return of 11 tries.
Kriel and de Klerk are poised to return next season and Yokohama will be tipped to make another play-off bid.
Kobe Steelers: 5th
Dave Rennie’s Kobe Steelers was expected to mount a serious play-off challenge and will rue a handful of slip-ups which ultimately cost them a spot in the post-season shake-up.
Rennie drastically changed the fortunes of his new charges this season after the club was embroiled in a relegation fight last season as they finished ninth.
Equipped with some considerable financial backing, Rennie leaned on his New Zealand connections and recruited World Player of the Year Ardie Savea, returning co-captain Brodie Retallick and former Chiefs fly-half Bryn Gatland.
Kobe won nine of their 16 league games with dependable number 10 Bryn Gatland finishing the season as the top points scorer (217) and the only player to surpass the 200-point mark.
Convenience store fiend Savea was every bit as destructive as you’d expect and chalked up big numbers in categories such as ball carries, line breaks and offloads.
The Hurricanes-bound number eight scored eight tries including four against Toyota Verblitz in March.
Three consecutive losses to Toshiba, Suntory and Kubota in the New Year period damaged their top-four hopes.
An 80-point draw away at Toshiba in April and a loss to Kubota in Hokkaido a week later sealed their fate.
Kubota Spears: 6th
Frans Ludeke’s defending champions sorely missed the presence of two-time World Cup-winning Springbok Malcolm Marx, 29, and the playmaking abilities of Australian veteran Bernard Foley, 34, who was the top scorer last season (173).
Ludeke acted quickly to replace Marx and illustrated the draw that Japan has become for elite players by persuading All Blacks legend Dane Coles to come out of retirement for a swansong in League One.
Kubota shuffled through a number of options at 10 but only rediscovered their form when Foley, who still scored 96 points, returned in April after a four month injury lay-off (elbow).
The Funabashi-based side only lost one game last season compared to seven this term with some wildly inconsistent displays.
Welsh full-back Liam Williams, 33, showed his quality when he was available with three tries and was an all-round classy operator enabling the hard-working former Japan international Gerhard van den Heever, 35, to provide cover at 10 and on the flanks.
A sixth-place finish is below expectations for Kubota but they can draw some encouragement from the way they finished the season.
The second League One champions went unbeaten in their last four games including gutsy wins over Kobe and Suntory either side of putting 61 points on the hapless Mie Honda Heat.
Former Japan captain Lappies Labuschagne, 35, won the Best Tackler prize and looks set to continue to be a fixture going forward.
Williams is set to return next season while darting winger Haruto Kida, 25, will hope for more game time and to repeat his 16-try scoring exploits from the 2022-2023 season.
Rookie hooker Hayate Era, 22, stood out in the final few months of the season with three tries in six games and will aim to challenge Marx and fellow returning South African Schalk Erasmus for the number two jersey.
Stay tuned for Part 2 which will focus on the second half of the top-flight table from 7th-12th place.
Pictures courtesy of Toshiba Brave Lupus, Suntory Sungoliath and Kobe Steelers
Comments