RugbyJP presents below Part 2 of our club-by-club report (7th-12th) for the division one 2023-2024 season.
Click here to read Part 1 focusing on teams 1st-6th
Toyota Verblitz: 7th
Big-spending Toyota Verblitz recruited New Zealand’s long-time all-star half-back pairing of Aaron Smith (three-year deal) and Beauden Barrett (one-year-contract).
With a squad bursting with talent including Springspoks star Pieter Steph Du Toit and Japan captain Kazuki Himeno the club was expected to challenge League One’s hierarchy this season.
Under the leadership of Director of Rugby Steve Hansen and head coach Ben Herring, the Aichi outfit finished a lowly seventh with nine wins and seven defeats.
Ageless Smith, 35, was at heart of everything good about Toyota this season featuring in all 16 league games and he chipped in with eight tries.
Smith looks like he has more than a few years left in the tank at the elite level.
Barrett, 33, who is already back training with the Blues in New Zealand, finished as the sixth highest points scorer (107).
Wing wizard Taichi Takahashi, 27, scored 13 tries to finish with the second highest return among Japan-bon players behind Seiya Ozaki (14).
Takahashi, who was touted as the Brave Blossoms’ long-term replacement for famed wing Kenki Fukuoka, has only earned one cap for his country which came in Aichi in 2022 against France.
The former Meiji University starlet, whose father Akihito Takahashi played for Kobe during their golden era of seven consecutive championships, has been picked by Eddie Jones for Japan’s National Team Training Camp to be held in Miyazaki City, Miyazaki in June.
Toyota has announced that Herring will be replaced by former All Blacks coach Ian Foster who was formerly an assistant to Steve Hansen with New Zealand.
NRL star Joey Manu will finally switch codes and join the club next season from the Sydney Roosters.
The Hamilton, New Zealand-born centre, 27, has long been mooted for a big-money switch from rugby league to the 15-a-side game and was heavily linked with a move to France this summer.
Further high-profile signings are expected for Toyota who appear to be sticking with their gung-ho approach of throwing money at any marquee names who become available while Hansen, who led his country to 2015 World Cup glory, remains a peripheral, rather than hands-on figure.
Shizuoka Blue Revs: 8th
Shizouka enjoyed another respectable season with a solid eighth-place finish.
They might not boast the star power of the some of the teams around them but were always exciting to watch and should be commended for how they coped in the absence of their injured captain Kwagga Smith.
Smith, 30, who has a contract with the club until 2027, suffered an adductor tendon rupture against Suntory in January and is set to return to action for the Springboks this summer.
Samoa-born wing Malo Tuitama, 28, who also qualifies for New Zealand and now Japan on residency grounds, was at his clinical best leading the division with 15 tries.
Tuitama has been named as a back-up member for Japan’s June training camp.
Former All Black Charles Piutau, 32, who represented Tonga at the World Cup last year, was switched from full-back to centre early in the season and that proved to be an inspired decision.
Wales-qualified flanker Richard Goh Jones, 25, won the Golden Shoulder award which is given to the best tackler and is chosen by the players.
Jones, who was born in Kyoto to a Welsh father and Japanese mother won the club’s breakthrough talent award a year ago and has said that his favourite ever player is former Wales captain Sam Warburton.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars: 9th
The Dynaboars endured a losing season with six wins and 10 defeats but still had plenty of moments to savour and proved that they were too good to be drawn into relegation trouble.
Glenn Delaney’s side defeated defending champions Kubota Spears 34-28 in March with Thailand-born wing Ben Paltridge, 31, who now qualifies for Japan, scoring a brace.
Former All Black Jackson Hemopo, 30, whose another product of the famed Palmerston North Boys' High School production line, tormented sides at will and contributed seven tries.
Ex-Northampton Saints fly-half James Grayson was the division’s fourth highest points scorer (148).
Former rugby league ace Curtis Rona, 31, who scored 34 tries in 50 appearances for the Canterbury Bulldogs and fellow Kiwi Matt Vaega formed a robust midfield partnership.
The Dynaboars, whose ranks included former World Player of The Year Shane Williams from 2012 – 2015, has announced their departing players this summer.
Highly-respected veteran Australian fly-half Matt To'omua, 34, and centre Brackin Karauria-Henry, 35, who represented Australia and Japan in sevens, are among those departing.
Black Rams Tokyo: 10th
The Black Rams were unable to build on last season’s seventh-place finish as they finished 10th to fall into the relegation-promotion play-off series.
The Komazawa-based team were also fancied to have too much quality to slip into the second tier and thumped division two runners-up NEC Green Rockets home and away with an aggregate score of 95-21.
Japan-qualified fly-half Matt McGahan, 31, scored 68 points while former England international Nathan Hughes, 32, who still harbours hopes of turning out for Fiji, scored 10 tries.
Australia-born full-back Isaac Lucas, 25, finished second in the rankings for ball carries (211) while number eight Hughes also featured highly, finishing joint-seventh with Ardie Savea (172).
Lucas, who has to be attracting attention from division one rivals, was third for metres gained (1,122), first for defenders beaten (86) and joint-first for offloads (31) with Piutau.
Back-rower Amato Fakatava, 29, who was a revelation for Japan at the World Cup, is another key player who the club can build around going forward.
Fiji-born wing Netani Vakayalia, 26, is a new name in the frame for a Brave Blossoms after his seven tries and is on the back-up list for their upcoming training camp.
Vakayalia, who was discovered and nurtured by former Fiji star Seremaia Bai, has already represented Japan in sevens.
Australia-born number eight Samuel Waqabaca, 22, is one to watch having got a taste of League One this season after graduating from Asahi University.
Mie Honda Heat: 11th
Kieran Crowley’s Honda Heat finished the season 11th with one victory and were the lowest points scorers while also shipping the most points.
Honda conceded a staggering 155 points in their opening two games as they were routed in Kobe 80-15 before being thrashed on home soil 75-0 by Kubota.
The sole win came in March against basement outfit Kintetsu Liners while their best display of the season came a month later as they narrowly lost out 8-7 to eventual champions Toshiba Brave Lupus.
Honda proved to be too strong for division two side Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi in the relegation-promotion play-off.
The Mie-based team won 57-39 on the road before losing the second leg 24-15 but they prevailed via the aggregative scoreline.
Scrum-half Takuro Hojo, 22, and wing Soki Watanabe, 27, finished as the club’s joint-top try scorers with two apiece which shows the problems the division one new-boys faced.
Injuries to new wing Tevita Li, 29, and Argentine ace Pablo Matera, 29, hit their plans but the latter returned in time for the all-important relegation decider and scored four tries in the first leg.
South African lock Franco Mostert, 33, who joined the club from Gloucester in 2020, got though mountains of work for his team.
The double World Cup winner produced the most successful tackles (229) with teammate and club captain Ryota Kobayashi (194) in close proximity.
Honda will be boosted by the return of Lomano Lemeki from NEC Green Rockets.
Lemeki, 35, who more than delivered for Japan on the game’s greatest stage after a surprise late call-up to the World Cup, has rejoined the club where he plied his trade from 2015-2020.
The New Zealand-born utility back, who is equally adept at fly-half, on the wing and at full-back, ran roughshod through division two this season while deployed at full-back.
Former sevens standout Lemeki scored six tries, finished first for ball carries (130), first for metres gained (940), first for line breaks (17), first for defenders beaten (69) and second for offloads (22).
Kintetsu Liners: 12th
After finishing bottom of League One’s top-flight for consecutive seasons there was an air of inevitably when Kintetsu Liners were relegated to the second tier.
The Liners earned one win all season when they bested fellow strugglers Black Rams 34-23 in April.
Division two winners Urayasu D-Rocks became the only team to achieve promotion when they defeated the Osaka side home and away.
Despite the best efforts of star trio Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Semisi Masirewa, Johan Ackermann’s D-Rocks team showed that they belong in division one.
Interestingly, today the Liners posted the names of the players who will leave Hanazono over the coming weeks and neither Genia, Cooper, both 36, nor Masirewa feature.
Japan-qualified wing Joshua Nohra, 27, who scored four tries this term, will be leaving the club after five seasons in what will be a transitional off-season for the club.
Fiji-born lock Sanaila Wakwa, 28, who has two caps for Japan, has earned the nod for the Brave Blossoms’ next meet up.
Pictures courtesy of Toyota Verblitz, Black Rams Tokyo and Mie Honda Heat
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