At the end of a long league season, it is my opinion that the team finishing top should be crowned as champions. However, some sports have some money-spinning play-off matches to decide who the champions are. Since the turn of the century, my home country England has used this system in slightly different styles to end the rugby season which more often than not has seen the team that won the regular season losing out in the Play Offs. Would the same happen in Japan?

Cup final day at the National Stadium

The Rugby League One Championship Play-Off Final was contested between the top two sides at Japan National Stadium on a sunny afternoon last Sunday. Saitama Wild Knights finished on top of the regular season with a 100% win record. Toshiba Brave Lupus finished second having lost just once, and that was of course against Wild Knights.

There was some kind of Rugby Festa taking place over the road from the stadium pre-match with the majority of Japanese clubs from the top three leagues taking part. They had stalls selling merchandise with a couple of players on hand from most teams posing for photos and signing goods. I didn’t recognise any of the players present though so didn’t just get a picture and then work out who they were as is the case with much of the public these days!

Just before 2:00 pm I had to make my way over to the stadium to meet a couple of friends but there was enough time to go and see the giant rugby ball which was a popular photo spot outside the main stand.

My partners in crime for this match were Dr. Ozilla and Nick. I hadn’t seen the former for 5.5 years so it was really great to catch up with him and talk about rugby which most of our mutual friends have no interest in!

10,000 tickets were given away for this game (we failed to win any!) so I’m sure there were many rugby novices in the stadium. The game is still fairly new to the majority of the population but it has been growing in popularity over the last few Rugby World Cups, especially the middle one in 2019 which was actually held in Japan. One person everyone seems to know though is the iconic former Brave Blossoms captain Michael Leitch.

“Leeeeeeiiiitch” – Brave Lupus fans chanted this everytime he had the ball

Flames and a cloud of smoke greeted the teams when they came out of the tunnel around 3:00 pm. The crowd rose for the Japanese national anthem and with the pre-match pomp and ceremony out of the way it was finally time for kick off. A ten second countdown seems to be common place these days and I know there is a lot of anticipation at this stage but it’s not really the big event it’s being made out to be.

This was actually my first time to see Saitama Wild Knights and they attacked for much of the opening 20 minutes but Brave Lupus were resolute and somehow stopped a couple of tries being scored and kept the score to just 6-0.

On 26 minutes they got on the scoresheet with a try that proved to be very controversial as replays showed it to be just short of the line but the referee didn’t even ask the television match official (TMO) to check it. The fact that there are no replays of it at all in the highlights video at the foot of this page says a lot!

Brave Lupus extended their lead with an early try in the second half which was the only one without any debate to its legality.

With 18 minutes remaining, Toshiba Brave Lupus led 17-6 but then the game turned on its head with two quick converted tries for Wild Knights, and it was time for the Tokyo team to regroup and get going again when it seemed like they had it in the bag.

Toshiba’s coach Todd Blackadder had a cunning plan though and minutes later they scored a try which appeared to the naked eye that it would be ruled out as a player had seemingly grounded his foot over the sideline. To everyone’s surprise though the TMO showed he had released the ball in mid-air just before his foot went out of play. The try was awarded but there was still time for one more twist in the tail.

Wild Knights hit back and went through 16 phases of play before scoring a wonderful try but the TMO replays clearly showed the ball had gone forward in an earlier phase and the try was ruled out. Big relief and disappointment for the respective teams, although they did have time to get used to what was coming as the referee and his assistants seemed to take an age to make decisions in this match which were quite clear after a replay or two.

Final Score: Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 24-20 Saitama Wild Knights

Owen and Nick departed just after the final whistle but I decided to stay around for the trophy presentation and lap of honour. There were some interviews afterwards which included the with winning captain Michael Leitch and the dreadlocked Shota Horie; the iconic Japanese national who had just brought the curtain down on his career. It sadly wasn’t the fairytale ending for him but his speech was delivered with humility and humour.

After that I headed on down to the front hoping to get some close up shots of the victorious players as they did their lap of honour. A voice came then came from behind me saying my stage name. It was a “twitter tomodachi (friend)” to use his words! I’ve been communicating a fair bit over the years with Mark who works over here as a freelance sports journalist and broadcaster. Previous attempts to meet up (including before this match itself) had failed so it was nice to finally chat with each other in person.

The voice of wrestling meets me!

The victorious players finally made their way round to our stand and it was great to see them so close up, especially when lifting the huge trophy aloft.

This was Toshiba Brave Lupus’ first league title triumph in 14 years and the players, inlcuding All-Blacks fly-half Richie Mo’Unga, couldn’t hide their relief and delight.

Of course everyone knows the rules beforehand and the whole spectacle of the play-offs in many sports, especially as a neutral, can provide unbelievable excitement. It really does keep the season alive for both fans and teams who have something to play for in the latter stages of the season. Money plays a huge part too and it does provide a great resource of revenue for some clubs. As much as I loved my day at this rugby final you can’t help but feel sorry for Wild Knights to have had such an amazing season but then lose the title to a team who finished beneath them in the league stage. Deciding promotion places this way may be ok but I’m still not a fan of the champions being determined in such fashion.

Bonus: That final was my fifth match of the year which is a record for me as Friday night rugby at Chichibunomiya has become something of a semi-regular event. My first few matches were covered in a post featuring former Leicester Tigers and England legend Freddie Burns. After that I got to see another Englishman called Sam Jeffries play for Tokyo Sungoliath in what was a rare tied match.

Click here to read ‘I Met An England Rugby Union Legend’

Click here to read ‘We Watched Japan Play An International Rugby Match Last Weekend!’

Click here to read ‘I Watched 15 Sports In Japan For The First Time In 2023’

Click here to read ‘Rugby World Cup Fever Grips Japan For Six Memorable Weeks Of Action’