Semifinal - Saitama Wild Knights vs Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay

The second of the weekend’s Division 1 JRLO semifinals sees perennial finalists Saitama Wild Knights play Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay on Sunday, 24th May, and again pits two star-studded sides and stellar coaches against each other.

Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans and Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay boss Frans Ludeke first squared off in the 2000s, when Deans led the Crusaders, while Ludeke was in charge at the Johannesburg-based Cats and then the Pretoria-based Bulls. Both are Super Rugby champions and have both been based in Japan for some time.

Ludeke arrived to take over at the Spears in 2016 and claimed a Kubota title in the second edition of League One, beating the Wild Knights 17-15. Prior to that win, the South African had lost nine games against his New Zealand colleague.

Deans has been in charge of the Saitama side for more than a decade and has won four Top League titles as well as the maiden JRLO title, but he has lost the last two finals. Against the Spears though, he has beaten them twice in three encounters since the final loss, and the Spears' overall record is just one win in 18 (16 defeats and the 29-29 draw most recently).

Dean's record in semi-finals since he began his professional coaching career in 1997 shows he has won 16 of 19, and he has gone on to win the final on 11 occasions.

Who could help Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay halt the Wild Knights on Sunday and deny them a JLRO final for the first time?

Malcom Marx will be key as the two-time winning World Cup player adds so much across the park and in the set piece. He scored eight tries from just 10 appearances a couple of seasons ago, scored seven from five games in the maiden Japan Rugby League One and was equal second top try-scorer among forwards in each of the first two editions of League One. He has scored 9 tries this season! He again poached several balls at the breakdown in the tightly contested win in the quarterfinal and was deemed Man of the Match.

Harumichi Tatekawa is a leader among the backline, and the experienced player was recalled to the Brave Blossoms for the inaugural Pacific Nations Cup and November tour last year. At flyhalf, the experience of Bernard Foley will be invaluable as they try and steer the Orange Army followed side to another final.

For the Wild Knights, their Brave Blossoms contingent includes Tomoki Osada, Dylan Riley, Shota Fukui, Ben Gunter, Atsushi Sakate, Taiki Koyama, and Takuya Yamasawa.

Flyhalf Kyohei Yamasawa leads the points tally in the division, and Deans was full of praise for the player before the final. “He has really embraced the challenge this year once the door opened up for him. Most importantly, he's responded to the challenge, and he's had a good background to prepare as well, which is something that the public doesn't see.”

Elsewhere, international talent comes in the form of World Cup champion Springboks Lood De Jager and Damian de Allende, and the lethal power and finishing of Marika Koroibete, with Lachlan Boshier a constant threat in the loose forwards - his poaching ability squaring up against Marx will be one to watch.