PREVIEW: Reigning World Rugby Player of the Year Malcolm Marx’s Kubota Spears will be chasing back-to-back appearances in the championship game when they clash with Damian de Allende’s Wild Knights.
The Spears hadn’t beaten the Wild Knights in 14 matches; a run which included a semi-final in the last Top League, as well as one in the new competition’s maiden journey.
*READ: Cheslin Kolbe explains why he is returning home
Kubota’s maiden title three years ago – when they were inspired by Springbok Malcolm Marx to win a 17-15 arm-wrestle in the championship game – end the Wild Knights’ hegemony over club matters in Japan, it also spurred the Spears on as they eliminated Saitama from the competition again last term, prevailing 28-24 after another titanic struggle.
In circumstances not too dis-similar to last year, the Spears enter the sudden death match having survived their first elimination test on the opening weekend of the finals, comfortably seeing off Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, 26-3.
Despite being held to a 7-3 halftime lead, Kubota always appeared to have the upper hand against the two-time defending champions, which they cemented with three second half tries to complete an impressive victory.
While five-time title-winning coach Robbie Deans remains involved in the background as an advisor, the Wild Knights enter the playoffs on the back of an impressive debut season under the charge of the New Zealander’s long-time assistant Atsushi Kanazawa, which saw just two defeats, and second position on the standings.
But, like last year, Saitama arrive at the play-offs party having not played for three weeks, which they may view as a mixed blessing after their slow start in the corresponding game last term, when they conceded a 15-point lead and were unable to run the Spears down.
While the Wild Knights won the clash between the two earlier in the season, their two-point victory – achieved with a try in the 82nd minute – represented the fourth time in the last seven meetings that four points or less had separated the sides, while they couldn’t be split in one of last year’s clashes, which ended in a 29-29 draw.
With that history, another close contest seems almost certain.
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Saturday’s semifinal between the number one-ranked Kobelco Kobe Steelers and surprise package Tokyo Sungoliath is very difficult to ‘read’.
The earlier season clashes between the pair produced contrasting results, with Kobe stealing a 22-20 victory in the first following an 80th minute penalty goal by Brave Blossoms flyhalf Seungsin Lee, before romping home 49-28 in the return fixture.
Having come within a shaved goalpost of elimination against BlackRams Tokyo, Sam Cane’s men will have drawn belief from the composure they showed following their opponent’s missed penalty goal attempt, being able to keep the ball alive during the patient build up that led to their match-winning try.
In a campaign which saw them at one point losing an unprecedented five games in a row, while also being on the end of a record 79-20 defeat by Kubota, it’s not hard to understand why there was such jubilation in the Sungoliath camp after last weekend’s Houdini act.
Maybe, just maybe, fortune is smiling on them again.
Cane will line up against his former Chiefs coach Dave Rennie, alongside ex-All Black teammates Ardie Savea, Anton Lienert-Brown and Brodie Retallick, having played alongside the latter since he and his Kobe captaincy counterpart first became teammates at the Super Rugby club in 2012.
That year, which was also Rennie’s debut at the helm, saw the Chiefs win the first of what became back-to-back titles, a feat which has ultimately led the Kobe boss to the All Black role via stints at Glasgow, with the Wallabies, and now in Kansai.
The game also brings together the two category leaders amongst the season’s individual point-scoring, with Sungoliath’s departing South African star Cheslin Kolbe advancing his tally to 205 last weekend, while Retallick remains the try-scoring front-runner with 17.
Expect both to have a major say on which side advances to the championship game.
