2022_Japan_Rugby_League_One

2022 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

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The 2022 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1 was the inaugural season of Japan's new professional three-tier Rugby union competition. It consisted of twelve franchises and played five teams twice and six teams once resulting in each team playing a total of sixteen games home and away.^[1] The top four sides at the end of the regular season contested the annual play-offs, whilst the bottom three sides went into a promotion and relegation playoff against the top three sides from the 2022 Japan Rugby League One – Division 2.^[2] The champions were the Saitama Wild Knights for the second season in a row. They beat Tokyo Sungoliath in the final 12–18.

Quick Facts Countries, Date ...

2022 Japan Rugby League One – D1
Countries	Japan
Date	7 January – 29 May 2022
Champions	Saitama Wild Knights
Runners-up	Tokyo Sungoliath
Relegated	Red Hurricanes Osaka Shining Arcs
Matches played	61
Attendance	385,227 (average 6,315 per match)
Highest attendance	33,604 (Tokyo Sungoliath vs. Saitama Wild Knights, 29 May 2022)
Lowest attendance	1,068 (Honda Heat vs. Green Rockets, 27 May 2022)
Top point scorer	Damian McKenzie (191)
Top try scorer	Dylan Riley (11) Rakuhei Yamashita (11)
Official website
league-one.jp
← 2021 2022–23 →

Teams and personnel

A total of twelve teams will participate in the inaugural Division 1 season:

Red Hurricanes

Steelers

Greater Tokyo Area†

Blue Revs

Verblitz

† Greater Tokyo teams
BlackRams
Brave Lupus
Eagles
Green Rockets
Shining Arcs
Spears
Sungoliath
Wild Knights

Locations of the 2022 Division 1 teams

2022 Division 1 teams in Greater Tokyo Area

More information Club, Prefecture ...

Club	Prefecture	Coach	Stadium	Capacity
Black Rams Tokyo リコーブラックラムズ東京	Tokyo	Peter Hewat	Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium	20,010
Green Rockets Tokatsu NECグリーンロケッツ東葛	Chiba	Robert Taylor	Kashiwanoha Stadium	20,000
Kobe Steelers コベルコ神戸スティーラーズ	Hyōgo	Dave Dillon	Noevir Stadium Kobe	30,132
Spears Funabashi クボタスピアーズ船橋・東京ベイ	Chiba	Frans Ludeke	Edogawa Stadium	6,950
Red Hurricanes Osaka NTTドコモレッドハリケーンズ大阪	Osaka	Johan Ackermann	Yodoko Sakura Stadium	25,000
Saitama Wild Knights 埼玉パナソニックワイルドナイツ	Saitama	Robbie Deans	Kumagaya Rugby Ground	24,000
Shining Arcs Urayasu NTTコミュニケーションズシャイニングアークス東京ベイ浦安	Chiba	Hugh Reece-Edwards	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium	27,188
Shizuoka Blue Revs 静岡ブルーレヴズ	Shizuoka	Naoya Okubo	Yamaha Stadium	15,165
Tokyo Sungoliath 東京サントリーサンゴリアス	Tokyo	Milton Haig	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium	27,188
Brave Lupus Tokyo 東芝ブレイブルーパス東京	Tokyo	Todd Blackadder	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970
Toyota Verblitz トヨタヴェルブリッツ	Aichi	Simon Cron	Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium	15,000
Yokohama Eagles 横浜キヤノンイーグルス	Kanagawa	Keisuke Sawaki	Nissan Stadium (Yokohama)	72,400

Ladder

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Tokyo Sungoliath	16	14	2	577	286	+291	78	36	10	0	66^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Play-off Semi-finals
2	Saitama Wild Knights (C)	16	14	2	527	298	+229	68	39	5	0	61
3	Spears Funabashi	16	12	4	555	342	+213	76	42	8	2	58^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Brave Lupus Tokyo	16	11	5	546	393	+153	74	48	8	1	53^{[lower-alpha 1]}
5	Toyota Verblitz	16	10	6	400	367	+33	52	49	6	0	46^{[lower-alpha 1]}
6	Yokohama Eagles	16	10	6	453	349	+104	59	47	4	1	45^{[lower-alpha 1]}
7	Kobe Steelers	16	7	9	521	496	+25	75	67	5	3	36^{[lower-alpha 1]}
8	Shizuoka Blue Revs	16	5	11	327	403	−76	47	54	3	4	27^{[lower-alpha 1]}
9	Black Rams Tokyo	16	4	12	276	480	−204	42	67	3	2	21^{[lower-alpha 1]}
10	Shining Arcs Urayasu (R)	16	4	12	277	527	−250	36	71	1	1	18	Relegation play-offs
11	Red Hurricanes Osaka (R)	16	3	13	183	473	−290	23	68	2	0	14^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Relegation to Division 3^{[lower-alpha 2]}
12	Green Rockets Tokatsu (O)	16	2	14	307	535	−228	42	76	2	4	14^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Relegation play-offs

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: league-one.jp
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Number of wins; 3) Point difference.
(C) Champion; (O) Relegation play-off winner(s); (R) Relegated
Notes:

Numerous teams that were awarded bonus-point victories (due to COVID-19 disruptions), automatically received a three-converted try result (21–0) in their favour, as well as a try bonus-point (five points) added to their tally in addition to there regular seasonal results. The total list of teams that are included are:
- Three try bonus-point victories: (15 points)
  Tokyo Sungoliath
  
  Toyota Verblitz
- Two try bonus-point victories: (10 points)
  Spears Funabashi
  
  Black Rams Tokyo
  
  Red Hurricanes Osaka
  
  Green Rockets Tokatsu
- One try bonus-point victory: (5 points)
  Brave Lupus Tokyo
  
  Yokohama Eagles
  
  Kobe Steelers
  
  Shizuoka Blue Revs
The Red Hurricanes were automatically relegated to the lowest-tier in the Japan Rugby League One (Division 3), as the team underwent a reorganisation. The Japan Rugby League One Board of Directors accepted an application by the team to participate in the third division.^[3] As a result, the first-placed team in Division 2 (Hanazono Liners) was automatically granted promotion, with the teams in second and third, qualifying for promotion/relegation fixtures.^[3]

Fixtures

Each team were to play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.^[4]^[5]

More information Home \ Away, BRT ...

Home \ Away	BRT	GRE	KKS	KSP	RHO	SWK	SHI	SBR	TYB	SUN	TBL
Black Rams Tokyo	—	21–18		0–21^{[lower-alpha 1]}	21–0^{[lower-alpha 2]}			21–0^{[lower-alpha 3]}	17–64	33–36	22–43
Green Rockets Tokatsu		—	17–48	41–71		10–39	34–38	27–34	10–36	0–21^{[lower-alpha 4]}
Kobe Steelers	56–21	57–28	—	27–22	0–21^{[lower-alpha 5]}	37–41	23–24				35–46
Spears Funabashi		59–26	40–32	—	34–3	21–0^{[lower-alpha 6]}	40–13	30–24	41–20
Red Hurricanes Osaka	22–43	15–10			—	10–66	21–0^{[lower-alpha 7]}	0–21^{[lower-alpha 8]}	25–38	3–22	16–35
Saitama Wild Knights	29–12	0–21^{[lower-alpha 9]}	37–31	35–14		—	31–24			34–17	30–18
Shining Arcs Urayasu	42–12	0–21^{[lower-alpha 10]}	34–74	9–19		5–48	—	10–27			22–21
Shizuoka Blue Revs	45–19		0–21^{[lower-alpha 11]}		36–13	25–26		—		0–21^{[lower-alpha 12]}	29–33
Toyota Verblitz	23–19		21–0^{[lower-alpha 13]}		21–0^{[lower-alpha 14]}	26–51	31–22	21–0^{[lower-alpha 15]}	—	0–21^{[lower-alpha 16]}	31–53
Tokyo Sungoliath	30–3		56–17	33–29	42–3		69–29	56–27	50–8	—	60–46
Brave Lupus Tokyo	21–0^{[lower-alpha 17]}	37–18		28–43	35–7		59–26		23–33	27–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 29 May 2022. Source: league-one.jp
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

Because the Black Rams returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests, the Spears were awarded a bonus point win.
Red Hurricanes returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Black Rams were awarded a bonus point win.
Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Black Rams were awarded a bonus point win.
Green Rockets returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Sungoliath were awarded a bonus point win.
Steelers returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Red Hurricanes were awarded a bonus point win.
Match was cancelled due to positive COVID-19 tests in the Wild Knights camp, the Spears were awarded a bonus point victory.
Shining Arcs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Red Hurricanes were awarded a bonus point win.
Red Hurricanes returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Blue Revs were awarded a bonus point win.
Match was cancelled due to positive COVID-19 tests in the Wild Knights camp, the Green Rockets were awarded a bonus point victory.
Shining Arcs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Green Rockets were awarded a bonus point win.
Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Steelers were awarded a bonus point win.
Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Sungoliath were awarded a bonus point win as a result.
Verblitz were awarded bonus point win as a result of the Steelers' positive COVID-19 tests.
Red Hurricanes returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Verblitz were awarded a bonus point win.
Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Thus Verblitz were awarded a bonus point win.
Verblitz returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Sungoliath were awarded a bonus point win.
Black Rams returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Brave Lupus were awarded a bonus point win.

Relegation play-offs

The relegation play-offs took place on 20 and 28 May 2022. ^{[citation needed]}

Overview

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
(D1) Green Rockets	55–34	Honda Heat (D2)	33–10	24–22
(D1) Shining Arcs	44–66	Mitsubishi DynaBoars (D2)	25–33	33–19

Matches

All times Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+9)

Green Rockets v Honda Heat

20 May 2022
19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Green Rockets	33–10	Honda Heat
Try: Teruya Goto 7' c Aseri Masivou (2) 14' c, 61' c Penalty try 37' m George Risale 40+2' c Con: Fletcher Smith (4/4) 9', 16', 40+3', 63'	Report	Try: Kanta Omata 67' c Con: Jono Lance (1/1) 68' Pen: Jono Lance (1/1) 32'

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 2,269
Referee: Shuhei Kubo

27 May 2022
19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Honda Heat	24–22	Green Rockets
Try: Seunghyuk Lee 4' m Dawid Kellerman 14' c Soki Watanabe 31' c Shogo Nezuka 72' m Con: SongGi Pak (2/3) 15', 32' Jono Lance (0/1)	Report	Try: George Risale 44' c Teruya Goto 58' m Tom Marshall 69' c Con: Fletcher Smith (2/3) 45', 71' Pen: Fletcher Smith (1/1) 29'

Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka
Attendance: 1,068
Referee: Kenki Furuse

Green Rockets won 55–34 on aggregate, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

Shining Arcs v Mitsubishi DynaBoars

21 May 2022
12:00 JST (UTC+9)

Shining Arcs	25–33	Mitsubishi DynaBoars
Try: Kai Ishii 12' m Shingo Nakashima 53' c Anaru Rangi 68' c Con: Greig Laidlaw (1/2) 54' Doga Maeda (1/1) 69' Pen: Greig Laidlaw (2/2) 9', 38'	Report	Try: Alaiasa Soraroland (2) 22' m, 33' c Matt Vaega 42' c Yoshimitsu Yasue 58' c Michael Little 62' c Con: Matt Vaega (4/5) 34', 42', 59', 63'

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 2,986
Referee: Noriaki Hashimoto

28 May 2022
16:40 JST (UTC+9)

Mitsubishi DynaBoars	33–19	Shining Arcs
Try: Matt Vaega 15' c Takumi Sugiura (2) 27' m, 38' c Nozomi Nara 66' c Nicholas Ealey 79' c Con: Matt Vaega (4/5) 17', 39', 68', 80+1'	Report	Try: Kai Ishii 10' m Sekonaia Pole 43'c syuhei takeuchi 73' c Con: Otere Black (2/3) 43', 73'

Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka
Attendance: 3,329
Referee: Akihisa Kajiwara

Mitsubishi DynaBoars won 44–66 on aggregate, and replaced the Shining Arcs in the Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

Season play-offs

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

21 May – Higashiōsaka

Tokyo Sungoliath	30
		29 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo)
Toshiba Brave Lupus	24
		Tokyo Sungoliath	12
22 May – Aoyama (Tokyo)
		Saitama Wild Knights	18
Saitama Wild Knights	24

Kubota Spears	10
		Third place

		28 May – Aoyama (Tokyo)

		Toshiba Brave Lupus	15

		Kubota Spears	23

Semi-finals

21 May 2022
14:30 JST (UTC+9)

Tokyo Sungoliath	30–24	Toshiba Brave Lupus
Try: Seiya Ozaki 24' c Shintaro Ishihara 42' c Ryoto Nakamura 59' c Con: Damian McKenzie (3/3) 25' 43' 60' Pen: Damian McKenzie (3/5) 31' 49' 52'	Report	Try: Jacob Pierce 27' c Takahiro Ogawa (2) 36' c 45' c Asaeli Ai Valu 55' m Con: Hayata Nakao (3/3) 28' 37' 46' Pen: Hayata Nakao (1/1) 17'

Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka
Attendance: 7,525
Referee: Takehito Namekawa

22 May 2022
14:00 JST (UTC+9)

Saitama Wild Knights	24–10	Kubota SpearsTokyo
Try: Takuya Yamasawa 7' c Kyohei Yamasawa 38' c Shota Horie 65' c Con: Takuya Yamasawa (3/3) 8' 39' 66' Pen: Takuya Yamasawa (1/3) 51'	Report	Try: Opeti Helu 80+2' c Con: Bernard Foley (1/1) 80+3' Pen: Bernard Foley (1/2) 15'

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 15,482
Referee: Yu Kawahara

Third place play-off

28 May 2022
12:05 JST (UTC+9)

Toshiba Brave Lupus	15–23	Kubota Spears
Try: Seta Tamanivalu 7' m Takuro Matsunaga 11' c Con: Takuro Matsunaga (1/2) 11' Pen: Takuro Matsunaga (1/1) 36'	Report	Try: Gerhard van den Heever 18' m Hiroyuki Yamasaki (2) 27' c, 38' m Con: Bernard Foley (1/3) 29' Pen: Bernard Foley (2/2) 49', 67'

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 6,974
Referee: Yosuke Kimura

Final

29 May 2022
15:00 JST (UTC+9)

Tokyo Sungoliath	12–18	Saitama Wild Knights
Pen: Damian McKenzie (4/4) 6' 52' 57' 66'	Report	Try: Marika Koroibete 28' c Dylan Riley 73' m Con: Takuya Yamasawa (1/2) 29' Pen: Takuya Yamasawa (2/5) 14' 64'

National Stadium, Kasumigaoka (Tokyo)
Attendance: 33,604
Referee: Shuhei Kubo


FB	15	Damian McKenzie
RW	14	Seiya Ozaki
OC	13	Samu Kerevi
IC	12	Ryoto Nakamura (c)
LW	11	Tevita Li
FH	10	Hikaru Tamura	62'
SH	9	Yutaka Nagare	66'
N8	8	Tom Sanders	50'
OF	7	Naoki Ozawa
BF	6	Koji Iino
RL	5	Wataru Kobayashi	66'
LL	4	Hendrik Tui
TP	3	Shinnosuke Kakinaga	50'
HK	2	Takuya Kitade	27'
LP	1	Shintaro Ishihara	50'
Substitutions:
HK	16	Kosuke Horikoshi	27'
PR	17	Yukio Morikawa	50'
PR	18	Sam Talakai	50'
LK	19	Takayasu Tsuji	66'
FL	20	Tevita Tatafu	60'
SH	21	Naoto Saito	66'
FH	22	Shogo Nakano	62'
CE	23	Taiga Ozaki
Coach:
Milton Haig


FB	15	Ryuji Noguchi
RW	14	Koki Takeyama
OC	13	Dylan Riley
IC	12	Hadleigh Parkes	57'
LW	11	Marika Koroibete
FH	10	Takuya Yamasawa
SH	9	Keisuke Uchida	67'
N8	8	Shunsuke Nunomaki	57'
OF	7	Lachlan Boshier
BF	6	Ben Gunter
RL	5	George Kruis
LL	4	Jack Cornelsen
TP	3	Taiki Fujii	46'
HK	2	Atsushi Sakate (c)	46'
LP	1	Keita Inagaki
Substitutions:
HK	16	Shota Horie	46'
PR	17	Shohei Hirano
PR	18	Asaeli Ai Valu	46'
LK	19	Ryota Hasegawa	57'
FL	20	Masaki Tani
SH	21	Taiki Koyama	57'
FH	22	Vince Aso	57'
CE	23	Semisi Tupou
Coach:
Robbie Deans

Statistics

The statistics do not include any additional points, tries, etc. that may have been acquired in play-off matches.

More information Pos., Player ...

Top try scorers
Pos.	Player	Team	Tries	Avg.
1	Dylan Riley	Saitama Wild Knights	11	0.73
1	Rakuhei Yamashita	Kobelco Kobe Steelers	11	0.92
3	Israel Folau^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Shining Arcs	10	0.71
3	Koki Takeyama	Saitama Wild Knights	10	0.67
5	Tevita Li	Tokyo Sungoliath	9	0.90
	Kwagga Smith	Shizuoka Blue Revs		0.82
	Jone Naikabula	Toshiba Brave Lupus		0.60
	Ataata Moeakiola	Kobelco Kobe Steelers		0.70
9	Damian McKenzie	Tokyo Sungoliath	7	0.50
	Isaac Lucas	Black Rams Tokyo		0.58
	Kazuhiro Taniguchi	Kubota Spears		0.47
	Chihito Matsui	Yokohama Canon Eagles		0.50
	Malcolm Marx	Kubota Spears		1.40
	Finau Tupa	Kubota Spears		0.58

Source: league-one.jp

Top point scorers
Pos.	Player	Team	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Points	Avg.
1	Damian McKenzie	Tokyo Sungoliath	7	48	20	0	191	15.92
2	Rikiya Matsuda	Saitama Wild Knights	1	44	24	1	168	12.92
3	Bernard Foley	Kubota Spears	5	24	16	0	121	15.13
4	Seung-sin Lee	Kobelco Kobe Steelers	5	27	6	0	97	7.46
5	Tom Taylor	Toshiba Brave Lupus	1	29	11	0	96	12
6	SP Marais	Yokohama Canon Eagles	3	27	8	0	93	8.45
6	Lionel Cronjé	Toyota Verblitz	4	23	9	0	93	10.33
8	Gerhard van den Heever	Kubota Spears	5	21	7	0	88	6.29
9	Kakeru Okumura	Shizuoka Blue Revs	1	26	9	0	84	7.64
10	Aaron Cruden	Kobelco Kobe Steelers	4	21	6	0	80	10

Source: league-one.jp

International players

The Japan Rugby League One holds a foreign player quota. Each Division 1 side are allowed a maximum of three “Category C” players: players who have represented a national team in international rugby that isn't Japan. The Japan Rugby League One also has two other categories of player (A, B), however, there is no limit on the number each team can have for those two category's.^[8]

More information Club, Player 1 ...

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3
Black Rams Tokyo	Matt Lucas	—	—
Green Rockets	Jake Ball	—	—
Kobelco Kobe Steelers	—	—	—
Kubota Spears	Bernard Foley	Malcolm Marx	Ryan Crotty
Red Hurricanes Osaka	Nick Grigg	—	—
Saitama Wild Knights	Damian de Allende	Lood de Jager	Marika Koroibete
Shining Arcs	Greig Laidlaw	Israel Folau	Liam Gill
Shizuoka Blue Revs	Isi Naisarani	Kwagga Smith	Viliami Tahituʻa
Tokyo Sungoliath	Samu Kerevi	Sean McMahon	—
Toshiba Brave Lupus	Matt Todd	Seta Tamanivalu	Tom Taylor
Toyota Verblitz	Patrick Tuipulotu	Pieter-Steph du Toit	Willie le Roux
Yokohama Canon Eagles	Cory Hill	Jesse Kriel	—

Notes

Folau changed international allegiance in July 2022 (to Tonga), following World Rugby eligibility law changes.^[6]^[7]

References

[1]
"Japan Rugby League One Set for Launch in January 2022". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
[2]
"Japan's new professional rugby league reveals inaugural schedule". The Japan Times. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
[3]
"NTTジャパンラグビーリーグワン2022入替戦フォーマットおよび日程のお知らせ" [NTT Japan Rugby League One 2022 replacement format and dates]. league-one.jp (in Japanese). League One. 14 April 2022. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
[4]
"Japan Rugby League One Schedule". Japan Rugby League One. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
[5]
"Schedule and Results". Japan Rugby League One. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
[6]
"Former Wallaby Israel Folau picked for Tonga as international exile ends". The Guardian. 27 May 2022.
[7]
"Israel Folau's Test rugby return short-lived in Tonga's heavy 36-0 loss to Fiji". ABC News. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
[8]
"League One: Les quotas de joueurs étrangers ont été annoncés" [League One: Foreign player quotas have been announced]. asierugby.com (in French). 26 October 2021.

External links

Japan Rugby League One site

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