1. Michael Hooper returns for Toyota Verblitz
Ex-Australia captain Michael Hooper returns to top-flight 15-a-side action for the first time since 2023.
Hooper, 33, featured for Toyota’s reserves a week ago and gets his first taste of Japan’s premier club competition since 2021.
The former Waratahs star played 10 games for the club in the final Top League season and - having retired from international duty for his country after being overlooked for their World Cup squad – answered an SOS call from Steve Hansen and Ian Foster to help ease their injury woes.
Hooper will inspire his new teammates and add experience and know-how to a squad brimming with talent but failing to do themselves justice with their league performances.
Toyota have only earned one win this season and are languishing in 10th position with six losses and a draw completing their record.
The Aichi side play Dave Rennie’s Kobe Steelers in Osaka on Saturday. Kobe themselves have made a low-key start with three wins and five defeats but sit sixth in the final as they occupy the final play-off berth.
Hooper, who comes up against his ex-Wallabies coach Rennie, said: “In terms of what I want to bring this weekend, I can bring good energy, I can bring a lot of enjoyment to the game and do my role really well. When the team has done well this year, it’s been when we’ve all done our role and we’ve played some really good rugby at times through the season just not for back-to-back games.
“We’re a good team we just need to stick to the process.”
2. Kubota aim for 22nd consecutive home win v Shizuoka
High-flying Kubota Spears have rediscovered the kind of form and performances that saw them win the 2023 League One crown.
Frans Ludeke’s side has been boosted by the return of fit-again stars Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx. The former missed most of last season after elbow surgery while Springbok Marx was unable to make a single appearance due to injury.
Welshman Liam Williams was hit by a run of injuries last term and, having left Japan for a return to the Saracens in December, has been replaced by world-class full-back Shaun Stevenson from the Chiefs.
Kubota has won six out of their eight games with the only blemish on their record being a two-point loss at the hands of inaugural League One winners Saitama Wild Knights in round two.
Kwagga Smith’s Shizuoka have also caught the eye and sit directly behind Kubota in the table in fourth place.
The Blue Revs have also won six games including an impressive triumph over defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus in January a week before their sole loss to a stuttering Suntory Sungoliath team.
Rugby league convert Valynce Te Whare has been in electric form with four tries to his name including a sublime coast-to-coast solo effort.
League One’s traditional runaway top try scorer Malo Tuitama, who made his Brave Blossoms debut last year, has 10 tries in eight games.
Watch Kubota Spears v Shizuoka Blue Revs LIVE and FREE outside of Japan on RugbyPass TV
3. Richie Mo’unga v TJ Perenara
League One’s Most Valuable Player and reigning champion Richie Mo’unga comes up against his former All Blacks teammate and half-back partner TJ Perenara when Toshiba Brave Lupus face the Black Rams in Saturday’s lunch time kick off in Tokyo.
Mo-unga, who RugbyJP exclusively revealed is being courted by Tonga Rugby Union, has been in fine form for once-beaten Toshiba while countryman TJ Perenara has starred at the Rams and has occasionally filled in at fly-half for Tabai Matson’s team.
Toshiba sit second after defeating Suntory last week, on the back of their riveting 28-28 draw in Kumagaya against Saitama.
The Rams, who boast former All Blacks prop Carl Hoeft as their forwards coach, have only recorded two wins this season but are coming off a hard-fought success against Greig Laidlaw’s Urayasu D-Rocks.
Toshiba are without Shannon Frizell who is serving a one-game suspension after accumulating three yellow cards this season.
The champions are able to call on captain and ever-present Michael Leitch who has made the most tackles this season (132).
Ex-All Black Seta Tamanivalu, Japan livewire Jone Naikabula and highly-talented New Zealand-born lock Jacob Pierce, whose the son of Secom Rugguts head coach and ex-Japan sevens international Scott, all start.
Rams' young fly-half prospect Ichigo Nakakusu continues to deputise at 10 in the continued absence of Australia-born Isaac Lucas.
Flanker Liam Gill, who has scored three tries this term, has been a consistent performer with his tenacious battling ability rubbing off on his teammates. The Australian switches to number eight where he will go head-to-head with Japanese legend Leitch.
4. Patrick Tafa returns for second tier Liners
Australia-born lock Patrick Tafa makes his first League One start of the campaign for Kintetsu Liners against Kyuden Voltex in what should be a highly-competitive contest.
Tafa, 25, who has Wallabies legends Will Genia and Quade Cooper – two players he admired growing up – as teammates under his leadership, has returned to full fitness and starts at blindside-flanker.
The Liners were relegated to Japan’s second tier after losing a two-leg relegation/promotion play-off to Urayasu D-Rocks last season.
Hanazono-based Liners have struggled to adapt to life outside of Japan’s top-flight and the return of Tafa, who is now eligible for Japan based on residency grounds, is a significant boost.
The ex-Waratahs academy member left his homeland for Japan in 2020 to play for NEC Green Rockets and moved to the Liners in 2021.
Tafa comes from strong sporting stock as a second-generation pro rugby player. His father Pati Tafa played for Manu Samoa while his first cousins, brothers Justin and Junior, are both heavyweight fighters in the UFC.
Japan international Sanaila Waqa plays in the second row, former All Black Akira Ioane starts at number eight for the Liners while Genia starts at nine and fellow Australian Will Harrison gets the nod at fly-half.
Cooper and Semisi Masirewa are among the Liners’ replacements.
Kyuden Voltex sit one place above their opponents in third position with three wins from five games, one more success than their opponents.
Well-travelled ex-Toulon Tom Taylor, 35, who joined the Fukuoka-based team from Toshiba in 2023, is their talisman.
Voltex has won three of the four games the former Crusaders star has featured in.
Ex-free-scoring Japan star Akihito Yamada, 39, scored 475 points for Saitama during a 10-year spell at the club, but remains out of contention.
Yamada crossed five times last season and will hopefully force his way back into contention this term.
Pictures courtesy of JRLO
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