The Top League teams with Super Rugby-level firepower - and why they must feature in the 'South Pacific Championship'
While we’re yet to have any official confirmation of the make-up of Super Rugby in 2021, we’ll likely see a 12 team competition involving the 10 Australasian Super Rugby sides plus two new additions in the form of Moana Pasifika and a Fiji XV.
There are still a few organisational and operational matters that will need attending to before anything can be guaranteed, but bringing some more Pacific Island flavour to the competition (potentially titled the South Pacific Championship, if a survey sent out last year is anything to go by) will ideally improve the national island sides’ development plus bring some extra intrigue to the competition.
Perhaps it’s sacrilege to even consider future expansion, especially given that the 2022 competition is yet to be given the green light, but it’s hard to ignore that Japan will still remain an untapped market with incredible potential, thanks to the abolishment of the Sunwolves.
While there won’t be any cross over between Asia and the Pacific next year, Japan will relaunch their own domestic competition to add an extra dollop of professionalism to their leagues and replace the current corporate-led structure. What the means in practical terms is uncertain, however. Currently, the vast majority of Top League athletes are company employees (with ‘rugby player’ being their secondary occupation) and it’s unclear what the changes for next season will mean.
Regardless, there’s a very real chance that in the distant future, a Champions Cup-style tournament could be hosted at the end of the Super Rugby season incorporating teams from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Pacific Islands.
That idea may not hold too much merit for the wider public, at least at this stage. Already, questions have been raised concerning the rationale behind 2021’s trans-Tasman play-off, which will see the top team from NZ face off with the highest-ranked Australian side, given the perceived variation in strength between the two ‘conferences’ – and given the Sunwolves’ performances throughout their tenure in Super Rugby, the Japanese sides won’t be expected to fire a shot.
That may have been the case half a decade ago, but the landscape of Japan has changed dramatically. While there have always been foreigners in the Top League competition, the number and quality of those players has increased hugely in the last few years, with players of all ages and experience levels scattered throughout the competition.
The likes of Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Samu Kerevi and Jesse Kriel are arguably in their prime while men like Ben Smith and Greg Laidlaw are hardly on their last legs either.
An increased influx of foreigners has helped boost the league standards, which has also hugely benefitted the local players.
While there are plenty of teams in the competition who don’t quite have the investment or pedigree to foot it with the top dogs, there are certainly some clubs that could challenge Super Rugby’s best.
Former Crusaders and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans recently acknowledged as such, suggesting that the gap between the Top League and Super Rugby is getting narrower and narrower every year.
In anticipation of the Top League kicking off this weekend, here is a XV made up of the best foreign talent set to grace the Japanese competition this season. #TopLeague https://t.co/2YCzj08neu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 11, 2021
“The standard’s good. It’s very good and it’s getting better and better,” Deans said. “From when I arrived up here (in 2014), it’s unrecognisable.
“If it’s not there already, it’s absolutely (reaching) Super Rugby level. But not across the whole comp. That’s not fair to say but if you take the top six teams, they’d all be competitive in Super Rugby.”
In the Top League’s 16-year history, there have been just four different champions crowned.
Toshiba Brave Lupus and Suntory Sungoliath have both managed five titles while Deans’ Panasonic Wild Knights have four to their name. Kobelco Steelers, meanwhile, won the first iteration of the competition in 2004 and were crowned the most recent champions in 2019.
While Toshiba haven’t quite recaptured their form from the first decade of the 2000’s, when they won all five of their titles, the other three sides have all regularly featured as finalists in the past five years and all boast plenty of talent amongst their ranks.
Suntory have both Barrett and Kerevi on their books for 2021, as well as Sean McMahon, Tevita Li and Harry Hockings. They’ve also got a number of Japanese representatives on deck, including Hendrik Tui and the Brave Blossom’s top halfback, Yutaka Nagare.
Former All Blacks and Chiefs coach Wayne Smith is director of rugby with Kobe and until last year had the former All Blacks pairing of Andy Ellis and Dan Carter to call upon in the halves. Their current squad includes Retallick, Aaron Cruden and Ben Smith, as well as 11 past or present Japanese internationals.
While Panasonic don’t have quite as many recognisable foreign names on board, Deans has moulded together an excellent team of current and upcoming Japanese superstars. Still, many should know of former Highlander, Melbourne Rebel and Sunwolf Shota Horie and electric wing Kenki Fukuoka (though his involvement in future seasons is uncertain, due to pursuing a medical degree). Former Wales midfielder Hadleigh Parkes and England international George Kruis are also on the ledger.
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Suntory, Kobelco and Panasonic are the obvious candidates that could foot it with the best teams from New Zealand and Australia while the likes of Toshiba (Michael Leitch, Matt Todd, Tom Taylor and Seta Tamanivalu), Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz (Michael Hooper, Kieran Read and Willie le Roux), NTT Docomo Shining Arcs (Amanaki Mafi, Liam Gill, Greg Laidlaw and Christian Lealiiafano) and Yamaha Jubilo (Kwagga Smith and Ayumu Goromaru) all have squads and management that are more than capable of at least challenging some of the Super Rugby sides.
It’s still too early to say what to expect from the future Japanese rugby landscape, but cross-over matches with the 12 teams set to compete in Super Rugby’s 2021 replacement are certainly worth considering in the next few years, once the two new tournaments have had time to bed in.
While it would be unrealistic to expect full integration between Asia and the Pacific – at least in the next decade – key stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand will no doubt be looking for ways of generating a little bit more cash, now than South Africa are no longer involved. The Japanese public showed during the 2019 World Cup and last year’s Top League competition that there’s certainly an appetite for rugby, especially when the best players in the world are regularly going head to head, and a few one-off clashes every year between the likes of the Crusaders and the Wild Knights, the Brumbies and Toyota Verblitz, and the Blues and the Sungoliath would no doubt draw in plenty of interest.
It might not be on the cards for next year, but it should certainly be under consideration for the coming seasons.
Comments on RugbyPass
Sadly he played far too many games too young. England and France really do need to look after their younger players better.
1 Go to commentsHaving finally been able to watch the first Chasing the Sun (thanks RugbyPass!) - because I refuse to pay DSTV's extortionate monthly fee in SA - after four years, it was amazing to see Mapimpi's story as well as seeing my personal hero, Rassie, breaking down when telling it. There _is_ hope for the country, but only once we've got rid of the crooked and incompetent ANC (and others) who have set out to destroy it. Viva Rassie, viva Kolisi viva rugby!
1 Go to commentsWhether true or not, all the best to you Sam Cane. A warrior of a player and a loyal servant to the ABs! Go get you some yen and have some fun.
2 Go to commentsThe game was changing too much with teams trying to role the dice drawing fouls. Would be better if scrums and the adjudicating problems were resolved but this is a good immediate fix.
37 Go to commentsLike many here I am encouraged by this post. Our forwards are where the real rewards and improvements must come from. With a 50/50 pack against any opposition, our backs could ensure more than 50% of the games will be won. We need Valetini at 6 and Cale at 8 to make the most or a good tight 5, McWright will add to the effectiveness of the pack BUT must get a very good tight 5 out there first.
104 Go to commentsThe key point I think that is missing is that if Joseph wants to guarantee a Lions spot, he really has to play wing in his first year. He is easily going to nail down whatever he wants to do, but with just half a season, how much of a factor he proves to be in the Lions series could be dictated by this initial choice of playing position.
8 Go to commentsthe game was 2 weeks before the challenge cup final. I really don’t believe they needed to rest that many players.
1 Go to commentsI really feel like neither of the Vunipolas is given the respect they deserve. I would have liked to see both of them get a few more caps than they have gotten in the past couple of years, but unfortunately the fact that they both peaked young has meant that for a number of years they have been perceived as disappointments. When they are both retired, in the cold light of day they will be recognised as two of the best players of their generation of any nation.
2 Go to commentsthis generation of saracens players could produce some really incredible coaches. When Farrell retires he could walk into any premiership team as a defence, attack, or kicking coach. Itoje could make it as a defence or a lineout coach, and Jamie George as a lineout or scrum coach. The problem the Vunipolas are going to have is that its not clear what their coaching speciality would be. Neither are great in the set piece, and while they were good in attack and defence, they were never tactical masterminds. Perhaps contact skills would be their ideal brief? Mako perhaps could work in strength & conditioning, but Billy has a bit of a reputation for not taking that side of the game seriously.
2 Go to commentsA very good player.We are finally getting some balance in our team. Plummer..Heem ..Lam a solid..experienced combo who take the sensible options consistently. Clarke was a grt impact of the bench option until Lam moved to 13 to replace an injured Reiko. Cotter is doing a grt job building his team. .
1 Go to commentsSaturday was last straw. Terrible record in Premiership since Jan 23. Capitulation against Bath at home. There are 3 conclusions. Players aren't good enough. Coaching team aren't good enough or combination of both.
2 Go to commentsAs you say in your article Brett, the point was Hamish and his vanity - plain and simple. The crazy bit is that sua’ali’i has to be probably twice the player of mark N, no easy feat, just for RA to get their money's worth!?! And as you say, tahs aren't short of wingers, props on the other hand id like to see $1.6m spent on. I still shake my head at the absolute carry on in the media and comments section around the boon of getting sua’ali’i and the revenue it'd generate. It was all such hogwash imo and short sighted, real sugar hit stuff. And wasnt Waugh (and others) on the board at the time this money was spent? You say silver bullet, I'd say sugar hit but without the flavour.
8 Go to commentsNZR should play hard all a bit with some of these players and make them sign up to the next world cup. If they won’t, offer it to someone who will. Because what happens is the NH (especially France) swoop on a bunch of nz players coming off contract, weakening their depth, and nz scrambles less than 2 years out trying to get replacements up to speed.
1 Go to commentsNo thanks. Savea almost always leaves easy points out there and goes for the corner, no matter how many times it’s not working. He claimed he took “the learnings” from this when he kept making the same mistake against the Boks a few years ago. Then went out the very next week and did the same thing and SA snatched victory because of it. Years later he still does it, right up to and including the world cup final. Great player, not so great rugby nous.
10 Go to commentsIt certainly wasn't a rhetorical masterpiece coming from big E …. (just as a side remark: Eben is the better player, Siya by far the better talker - maybe that's why they don't seem to like each other very much) …. but could we please move on?
70 Go to commentsMan who wasn't there and hasn't held a conversation with those who were present weighs in on dead rubber debate and is presented as representative of the Irish Rugby Union’s spokesperson on subject he has no apparent knowledge of whatsoever.
70 Go to commentsanybody who bends at the waist when they tackle
6 Go to commentsThe evidence is not strong that this is necessary. Mounga choked on clutch kicks in the WRC final and lost the match by not performing his core goal kicking role to the level required. He also choked in the Semi final against England and was targeted as the weak point in the defence allowing them to score. Not a test great frankly. Why bend the rules for a player that is competent but not brilliant at test level?
11 Go to commentsDear Robbie, Please return to the Crusaders next season. Sincerely, Scott
1 Go to commentsDid the big E call the Irish the ‘White Can’ts’? That would’ve been good
70 Go to comments