RUGBY JERSEY – Japan Rugby League One Round 5 – Shining Arcs Tokyo Bay Urayasu vs Saitama Wild Knights

(Author: Azul, February 6th, 2022)

Japan Rugby League One, which started on January 8, has entered its fifth round this week. The league will end on May 8, the 16th season, so it is still in the early stages.

It was a pity that the game was cancelled two weeks ago due to the outbreak of a new corona infection among Shining Arks officials.

This week, I went to the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Minato Ward, Tokyo again.

The weather was cloudy, but as you would expect in February in the middle of winter, it was very cold again today. The highest temperature was 5 degrees Celsius and there was a north wind blowing, so the temperature was below freezing. Sometimes it even started to snow.

A state of emergency is about to be declared in Tokyo due to the new corona infection, but the stadium was open to spectators and the game was on.

The number of paying visitors today was 4,306. Without the new Corona, we can expect more spectators, but still, considering the current situation, I think we did well in terms of business.

Today’s home team was the Shining Arcs, so the banners of the regular players were fluttering in the stadium aisles.

The player in the photo is SH Laidlaw, who represented Scotland at the 2019 RWC. He’s a central player who is the face of the Shining Arks.

Our seats today were in the north corner of the back stand, gate 17, row 23, row 343.

This is what it looks like from this seat, which is a bit far from the ground and difficult to take pictures of.

Let’s take a look at the two teams that will be playing today.

First, the home team, Shining Arcs.

＊NTT Communications Shining Arks Tokyo Bay Urayasu

The host town is Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, where Tokyo Disneyland is located. They finished 9th in the top league last year, and are one of the lower ranked teams in the league. The parent company is NTT Communications, and we have made a lot of reinforcements for the first year of League One. The two current Japan representatives are CTB Shane Gates and lock Jeames Moore. In addition, they have several experienced Super RUGBY experience have joined the team. And the key reinforcements are former Scotland SH Laidlaw and former Australia FB Israel Folau. This Falou in particular has 73 caps for the Australian national team and is still the strongest FB in the world. He is 194cm tall, weighs 103kg, and has a speed ability of 10 seconds in 100m. When he receives the ball with top speed, he has an unstoppable breakthrough power.

Next, let’s take a look at the opponent, Saitama Wild Knights.

• Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights

They are last year’s Top League champion team. They are the top candidate for the League One championship this season, having won the championship five times in the Top League era. It is the strongest team with 11 current candidates for the Japanese national team and many experienced representatives from other countries in the team. The team is almost as good as the Japanese national team. The team’s style of play is strong defensive power. Anyway, the team makes few mistakes and loses few points.

Like Suntory Sangorias, this team also has a large number of merit players, but this year’s main reinforcement is WTB Coloibete with the number 11. He is 182cm tall, 96kg, and can run 100m in 10 seconds.

And now, the match begins. Today’s kickoff was late, at 14:30.

As expected, it was the Wild Knights who took the lead.

1 minute into the first half: The Wild Knights won the ball from the right edge of the enemy territory near the 22m line, and immediately deployed to the left side. Lock Cornelsen followed up with a try near the goal posts. After the try, SO Matsuda scored the conversion goal to make it 0-7, and the Wild Knights were ahead by 7 points.

6 minutes into the first half: After a foul by the opposition, SO Matsuda kicks the ball to the enemy 22m line and wins another lineout. This time, they formed a maul and tried to advance, but hooker Sakate found an open space on the left side and ran into it to score another try easily. The conversion goal was also successful, and the score was 0-14, giving the Wild Knights an early 14-point lead.

14 minutes into the first half: The Wild Knights scored three tries in a row in the exact same pattern as before. They won the ball in a lineout from the 22m line on the right edge of the enemy territory. They formed a maul and moved forward by force. The Shining Arcs FW was unable to stop the advance and the try was scored. The try was scored by Wild Knights hooker Sakate, his second of the day, and SO Matsuda successfully converted the goal to make the score 0-21. The score became 0-21, and the Wild Knights took a big lead.

The score was 0-21, and the Wild Knights took a big lead. 28 minutes into the first half: SO Matsuda of the Wild Knights chose PG after a foul by the opposing team, and scored steadily. The score is now 0-24, and the Wild Knights lead by 24 points.

Today, I was watching the game from the north stand, but the Shining Arcs were pushed to their own side and didn’t come to our side at all. The Wild Knights are too strong.

36th minute of the first half: The Wild Knights were fouled again and won the ball from a lineout near the 22m line on the right edge of the enemy territory to form a maul. The Shining Arks looked like they were going to do the same thing again, but they showed their determination and crushed the maul. The Wild Knights scored a try when WTB Takeyama, who was hiding behind a crowd of players, came around well and scored a try. After the try, the conversion goal failed. The score was 0-29, and the Wild Knights took a huge lead.

This Takeyama is a great WTB player with a lot of qualities. He has a natural sense of scoring tries, and when he gets a chance, he steadily scores a try. I hope he will make the Japan national team soon.

The first half ended. The score was 0-29, and it was a one-sided game for the Wild Knights.

In preparation for the second half, the Shining Arks reserve players started warming up. SH Laidlaw can be seen among them.

Then it was halftime.

Supporters cheering for the Shining Arcs in this cold weather. They are wearing matching blue happi coats.

Shining Arcs also cheered the team on with drums during halftime. They are wearing light upper body clothes in this snowy weather. Good luck, Shining Arcs.

8 minutes into the second half: From near the center of the ground, the Wild Knights made a series of attacks. At the end, CTB Riley breaks through the Shining Arcs defense and connects with WTB Takeyama. Takeyama overcame the chasing defence with his speed to score a try in the middle right. Takeyama scored his second try of the day. The conversion goal was also successful, and the Wild Knights extended their lead to 0-36.

Finally at the right side of the opponent area FB Noguchi of Wild Knights received the ball then cut in and scored the try in the right side of the goal line. The conversion goal after the try was also successful, making the score 0-43, and the Wild Knights took the lead further.

31st minute of the 2nd half: The Shining Arks started to attack in succession and made steady gains. No.8 Tupou passed the ball to their trump card, FB Folau, who accelerated to catch the ball and pass it past three players to score a try in the middle right corner. The stands erupted with the loudest cheer of the day. The conversion goal was unsuccessful, and the score became 5-43, and the Shining Arcs finally got their revenge.

39 minutes into the second half: The Shining Arcs were attacked in front of the goal several times, but their defense became more tenacious and prevented the Wild Knights from scoring a decisive try on several occasions. In the closing minutes, however, the Wild Knights expanded to the right side in front of the goal, and No.8 Fukui stretched out his arm to score a try in the right corner. The conversion goal failed and the final score was 5-48. It was a victory for the Wild Knights.

But still, the Wild Knights are strong. So far, only Suntory Sangorias has the same momentum.

＊＊　Jersey Collection 55　＊＊

These are the happi coats of the host team, the Shining Arcs, which were handed out free of charge to visitors at today’s game.

All the teams put a lot of thought into their fan service. It makes me want to go to various teams’ games and collect them.

The next game I plan to watch is on February 12.

Hino Red Dolphins vs Hanazono Kintetsu Liners

The venue is the same as today, Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.