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. 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. The champions were the Saitama Wild Knights for the second season in a row. They beat Tokyo Sungoliath in the final 12–18.
Teams and personnel A total of twelve teams will participate in the inaugural Division 1 season:
Club Prefecture Coach Stadium CapacityBlack Rams TokyoTokyo Peter HewatKomazawa Olympic Park Stadium20,010Green Rockets TokatsuChiba Robert TaylorKashiwanoha Stadium20,000Kobe SteelersHyōgo Dave DillonNoevir Stadium Kobe30,132Spears FunabashiChiba Frans LudekeEdogawa Stadium6,950Red Hurricanes OsakaOsaka Johan AckermannYodoko Sakura Stadium25,000Saitama Wild KnightsSaitama Robbie DeansKumagaya Rugby Ground24,000Shining Arcs UrayasuChiba Hugh Reece-EdwardsChichibunomiya Rugby Stadium27,188Shizuoka Blue RevsShizuoka Naoya OkuboYamaha Stadium15,165Tokyo SungoliathTokyo Milton HaigChichibunomiya Rugby Stadium27,188Brave Lupus TokyoTokyo Todd BlackadderAjinomoto Stadium49,970Toyota VerblitzAichi Simon CronPaloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium15,000Yokohama EaglesKanagawa Keisuke SawakiNissan Stadium (Yokohama)72,400
Ladder
Fixtures Each team were to play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.
Relegation play-offs The relegation play-offs took place on 20 and 28 May 2022.
Overview
Matches All times Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+9)
Green Rockets v Honda Heat
Green Rockets won 55–34 on aggregate, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.
Shining Arcs v Mitsubishi DynaBoars
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
Third place play-off
Final
FB 15 Damian McKenzieRW 14 Seiya OzakiOC 13 Samu KereviIC 12 Ryoto Nakamura (c)LW 11 Tevita LiFH 10 Hikaru Tamura SH 9 Yutaka Nagare N8 8 Tom Sanders OF 7 Naoki OzawaBF 6 Koji IinoRL 5 Wataru Kobayashi LL 4 Hendrik TuiTP 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga HK 2 Takuya Kitade LP 1 Shintaro Ishihara Substitutions:HK 16 Kosuke Horikoshi PR 17 Yukio Morikawa PR 18 Sam Talakai LK 19 Takayasu Tsuji FL 20 Tevita Tatafu SH 21 Naoto Saito FH 22 Shogo Nakano CE 23 Taiga OzakiCoach: Milton Haig FB 15 Ryuji NoguchiRW 14 Koki TakeyamaOC 13 Dylan RileyIC 12 Hadleigh Parkes LW 11 Marika KoroibeteFH 10 Takuya YamasawaSH 9 Keisuke Uchida N8 8 Shunsuke Nunomaki OF 7 Lachlan BoshierBF 6 Ben GunterRL 5 George KruisLL 4 Jack CornelsenTP 3 Taiki Fujii HK 2 Atsushi Sakate (c) LP 1 Keita InagakiSubstitutions:HK 16 Shota Horie PR 17 Shohei HiranoPR 18 Asaeli Ai Valu LK 19 Ryota Hasegawa FL 20 Masaki TaniSH 21 Taiki Koyama FH 22 Vince Aso CE 23 Semisi TupouCoach: Robbie Deans
Statistics The statistics do not include any additional points, tries, etc. that may have been acquired in play-off matches.
+ Top try scorers Player TeamTries1 Dylan RileySaitama Wild Knights110.73 Rakuhei YamashitaKobelco Kobe Steelers0.923 Israel FolauShining Arcs100.71 Koki TakeyamaSaitama Wild Knights0.675 Tevita LiTokyo Sungoliath90.90 Kwagga SmithShizuoka Blue Revs0.82 Jone NaikabulaToshiba Brave Lupus0.60 Ataata MoeakiolaKobelco Kobe Steelers0.709 Damian McKenzieTokyo Sungoliath70.50 Isaac LucasBlack Rams Tokyo0.58 Kazuhiro TaniguchiKubota Spears0.47 Chihito MatsuiYokohama Canon Eagles0.50 Malcolm MarxKubota Spears1.40 Finau TupaKubota Spears0.58 Source: league-one.jp
+ Top point scorers Player TeamTriesPoints1 Damian McKenzieTokyo Sungoliath74820019115.922 Rikiya MatsudaSaitama Wild Knights14424116812.923 Bernard FoleyKubota Spears52416012115.134 Seung-sin LeeKobelco Kobe Steelers52760977.465 Tom TaylorToshiba Brave Lupus12911096126 SP MaraisYokohama Canon Eagles32780938.45 Lionel CronjéToyota Verblitz423909310.338 Gerhard van den HeeverKubota Spears52170886.299 Kakeru OkumuraShizuoka Blue Revs12690847.6410 Aaron CrudenKobelco Kobe Steelers421608010 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.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Black Rams Tokyo Matt LucasGreen Rockets Jake BallKobelco Kobe SteelersKubota Spears Bernard Foley Malcolm Marx Ryan CrottyRed Hurricanes Osaka Nick GriggSaitama Wild Knights Damian de Allende Lood de Jager Marika KoroibeteShining Arcs Greig Laidlaw Israel Folau Liam GillShizuoka Blue Revs Isi Naisarani Kwagga Smith Viliami TahituʻaTokyo Sungoliath Samu Kerevi Sean McMahonToshiba Brave Lupus Matt Todd Seta Tamanivalu Tom TaylorToyota Verblitz Patrick Tuipulotu Pieter-Steph du Toit Willie le RouxYokohama Canon Eagles Cory Hill Jesse Kriel
Notes
References
External links Japan Rugby League One site