The Business end moves closer in Japan

JAPAN LEAGUE ONE: Springbok lock Lodewyk de Jager's Wild Knights and Kubota Spears will continue their charge towards semi-final qualification in Division One.

The unbeaten Wild Knights need just two points against Toyota Verblitz on Saturday to assure themselves of a playoff berth with three games to spare.

Birth has been the catchphrase around their training base at Saitama of late, with Mark Abbott, Asaeli Ai Valu and Marika Koroibete all having just returned to duty after welcoming new additions to their families, while Takuya Yamasawa will take his ‘turn’ on ‘baby watch’ this weekend, and other players are scheduled to follow.

While fifth-placed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo need to take down Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo to keep the pressure on fourth-placed Yokohama Canon Eagles, who face Kintetsu Liners, a ‘mini-league’ – currently headed by the Black Rams – has broken out between the bottom seven clubs, adding a further element of intrigue to the end of the regular season.

Brave Lupus Tokyo are on the charge.

Last season, they won six straight to make the playoffs.

They have won three-in-a-row now, and have closed to within three points of fourth on the championship ladder.

While there was an element of good fortune about the third – their semi-final chance would have been hanging by a thread had Tiaan Falcon not missed with a last-minute conversion attempt – the adversity they overcame in last weekend’s 19-18 win over Toyota Verblitz is the type of stuff that only fuels the belief that destiny is on one’s side.

Two weeks ago, Brave Lupus at one point played with 13 against NEC after red and yellow cards.

It did not stop them, nor did finishing with 14 against Verblitz, after they ran out of substitutes due to injuries.

"In last week's game, we had 13 players, so I thought, 'It's easier than that,” co-captain Yoshitaka Deshinaga said.

“What we do hasn't changed, so I think last week's experience [against NEC] has made it clearer what we are going to do with 14 players. We talked positively."

A campaign that was sailing along sweetly has suddenly hit choppy waters.

While last weekend’s 15-5 defeat by Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay wasn’t terminal, it has left Yokohama Canon Eagles suddenly vulnerable, with the gap to fifth-placed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo shrinking, and the Eagles still have Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath to play.

This had made the previously desirable outcome of maximum points from this weekend’s game against Hanazono Kintetsu Liners, as well as NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu in Match Day 14, now critical, as bonus points could well be the tiebreaker when semi-final entry comes up for decision.

The last time Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights tangled with Toyota Verblitz it was physical.

Division One’s last undefeated side will head to Aichi expecting more of the same.

While it’s hard to argue when you score 61 points, as the Wild Knights did last weekend against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars, coach Robbie Deans will be concerned how his side ‘put the cue in the rack’ after

leading 49-8 at halftime.

In some ways it may help: a reminder of their second-half performance, where they conceded three tries and 21

points, might serve as the perfect motivator for a side that is 12 and 0 for the season.

DIVISION ONE

Friday, March 24

RICOH BLACK RAMS TOKYO v TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO

(Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, 19.00 Japan time)

Saturday, March 25

YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES v HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS

(Resonac Dome Oita, 14.00 Japan time)

TOYOTA VERBLITZ v  WILD KNIGHTS

(Toyota Stadium, Aichi, 14.30 Japan time)

Sunday, March 26

SHIZUOKA BLUE REVS v MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES SAGAMIHARA DYNABOARS

(IAI Stadium Japan daira, Shizuoka, 14.00 Japan time)

NEC GREEN ROCKETS TOKATSU v TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH

Kashiwanoha Park Stadium, Chiba, 14.30 Japan time)

Division Two

Saturday, March 25

SHIMIZU CORPORATION KOTO BLUES SHARKS v TOYOTA SHUTTLES AICHI at Tokyo

Sunday, March 26

URAYASU D-ROCKS v MIE HONDA HEAT at Niiagata

Division Three

Saturday, March 25

CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER RED REGULIONS v KYUSHU ELECTRIC POWER KYUDEN VOLTEX at Hiroshima