The 2022–23 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1 season was the twentieth top flight league season played from December 2022 through to May 2023, in the newly rebranded Japan Rugby League One. The competition consisted of twelve teams, including two promoted teams from Division 2, Sagamihara Dynaboars and Hanazono Liners.
Format The format and schedule was announced on 16 September 2022. It consisted of a round-robin fixture, before entering into a knockout style play-off for the final four teams. It featured two conferences (A, B). Teams in each conference played the teams in their respective conference twice (one at home, one away), and six matches against all the teams in the other conference, three being at home and three away. Each team played a total of sixteen seasonal fixtures, plus additional play-off matches, including relegation play-offs.
Teams and personnel
Club Prefecture Coach Stadium CapacityBlack Rams TokyoTokyo Peter HewatKomazawa Olympic Park Stadium20,010Green Rockets TokatsuChiba Robert Taylor Kashiwanoha Stadium20,000Hanazono LinersOsaka Yoshitake Mizuma Hanazono Rugby Stadium 30,000Kobe SteelersHyōgo Nick HoltenNoevir Stadium Kobe30,132Spears Tokyo BayChiba Frans LudekeEdogawa Stadium6,950 Sagamihara DynaBoarsKanagawa Glenn Delaney Sagamihara Gion Stadium15,300Saitama Wild KnightsSaitama Robbie DeansKumagaya Rugby Ground24,000 Shizuoka Blue RevsShizuoka Naoya OkuboYamaha Stadium15,165Tokyo SungoliathTokyo Milton HaigChichibunomiya Rugby Stadium27,188Brave Lupus TokyoTokyo Todd BlackadderAjinomoto Stadium49,970Toyota VerblitzAichi Ben Herring Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium15,000Yokohama EaglesKanagawa Keisuke SawakiNissan Stadium (Yokohama)72,400
Personnel changes Club Outgoing coach Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment Kobe Steelers Dave DillonAugust 2022 Nick Holten August 2022Sagamihara Dynaboars Greg Cooper June 2022 Glenn Delaney July 2022Toyota Verblitz Simon CronMarch 2022 Ben Herring August 2022
Ladder
Fixtures Each team were to play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.
Promotion/Relegation play-offs
The relegation play-offs took place between 5 May and 14 May 2023.
Overview
Matches All times Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+9)
Sagamihara DynaBoars v Shuttles Aichi
Green Rockets Tokatsu v Mie Heat
Hanazono Liners v Urayasu D-Rocks
Season play-offs Bracket
Semi-finals
3rd Place Playoff
Final
FB 15 Ryuji NoguchiRW 14 Tomoki OsadaOC 13 Dylan RileyIC 12 Damian de AllendeLW 11 Marika KoroibeteFH 10 Rikiya Matsuda SH 9 Keisuke UchidaN8 8 Jack CornelsenOF 7 Lachlan BoshierBF 6 Shota FukuiRL 5 Lood de JagerLL 4 Mark AbbottTP 3 Asaeli Ai ValuHK 2 Atsushi Sakate (c)LP 1 Keita InagakiSubstitutions:HK 16 Shota HoriePR 17 Craig Millar PR 18 Shohei HiranoLK 19 Liam Mitchell FL 20 Itsuki Onishi SH 21 Taiki Koyama FH 22 Takuya Yamasawa CE 23 Koki TakeyamaCoach: Robbie Deans FB 15 Gerhard van den HeeverRW 14 Koga NezukaOC 13 Ryan CrottyIC 12 Harumichi Tatekawa (c)LW 11 Haruto KidaFH 10 Bernard FoleySH 9 Kazuhiro Taniguchi N8 8 Faulua MakisiOF 7 Takeo SuenagaBF 6 Finau TupaRL 5 Ruan BothaLL 4 Yuki AokiTP 3 Kengo KitagawaHK 2 Malcolm MarxLP 1 Yota KamimoriSubstitutions:HK 16 Schalk ErasmusPR 17 Kazuki KatoPR 18 Opeti HeluLK 19 Uwe HeluFL 20 Masaya TamakiSH 21 Shinobu FujiwaraFH 22 Sione TeaupaCE 23 Halatoa VaileaCoach: Frans Ludeke
References
External links Japan Rugby League One site