The Cheslin Kolbe reason to cheer new Japan Rugby League One season

Fresh from some fancy footwork at Allianz Stadium Twickenham, Springboks ace Cheslin Kolbe will dive back into club action when Japan Rugby League One kicks off next week.

The 31-year-old is one of eight members of this year’s Rugby Championship-winning South Africa squad – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Sagamihara Dynabors), Jesse Kriel (Yokohama Eagles), Damien de Allende (Saitama Wild Knights), Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Malcolm Marx (Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay) and Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) are the others – who are lacing up their boots as the league gets under way on December 21.

They are joined in the Far East by Test-level teammates Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert as well as an All Blacks contingent which includes recent European tourists Sam Cane and TJ Perenara, alongside the likes of Aaron Smith, Brodie Retallick, Ngani Laumape, Richie Mo’unga and Shannon Frizell. The latter pair, on debut last term, helped Brave Lupus Tokyo to their first title since 2010.

At a time when many of its global contemporaries are losing teams due to financial pressures, League One begins its fourth edition having expanded by three teams. The new entries join Division Three, which upsizes to six, with Division Two increasing to eight.

While Division One will again comprise 12 sides, a top six format has been adopted for the play-offs, which will now be held over three weeks, leading into the final on June 1. Extending the finals will further increase spectator numbers, which surpassed a million for the first time last year.

This included 56,486 at Tokyo’s National Stadium for the final, a whopping 14,692 more than those who had attended the corresponding match a year earlier. As well as the big names, they were drawn by the exciting and fast nature of the games, which saw a try scored for every nine minutes of play on average.

Kolbe and Cane are among the big names for 2024/25. They have returned to a Sungoliath outfit that have been flying in pre-season, unbeaten under the guidance of rookie coach Kosei Ono. Sungoliath’s new boss is one of two ex-internationals on a maiden coaching journey, with former Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw taking charge of newly promoted Urayasu D-Rocks.

Such is Division One’s competitiveness, its first three editions have been won by different clubs. Japan have also produced the closest combined play-off scores of any professional club championship across the last five years, with 4.25 points the average gap in elimination games.

It is testament to the league’s tight margins that its inaugural champions, Saitama Wild Knights, have missed out since, despite winning 48 of 54 outings from when the league was inaugurated.

While southern hemisphere internationals dominate the three positions each club is allowed for foreign capped Test players, the north’s presence is rapidly growing as players use the league to either re-start careers, or as a more settled and financially secure home.

The success of Leicester fly-half James Shillcock two seasons ago, and his Northampton counterpart James Grayson last term, has not gone unnoticed with the arrival of Gallagher Premiership players such as Manu Vunipola (Saracens), Elliot Stooke (Bath), Ollie Stoneham (Saracens), Ed Holmes (Bristol) and Tom Hendrickson (Exeter) for the new season.

Championship players Brendan Owen (Jersey Reds) and Andrew Davidson (Ealing Trailfinders) have also found their way to Japan. They add to the arrival of Scottish Test pair George Turner (Kobe) and Richie Gray (Toyota), as well as ex-Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell (Green Rockets), who have each landed at Japanese clubs.