2024-2025 JRLO Round 11 Preview

rugbyasia247 Posted On March 13, 2025

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Our 2024-2025 JRLO Round 11 Preview with games being played from March 14-16 in Japan across all divisions in the Japan Rugby League One. This weekend sees the commencement of Friday night fixtures in the top flight.

Results Round 10

Division 1

Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo 22-7 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars
Toyota Verblitz 36-31 Urayasu D-Rocks
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 31-27 Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay
Shizuoka Blue Revs 44-14 Mie Honda Heat
Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights 46-32 Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Yokohama Canon Eagles 33-22 Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath

Division 2

Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi 54-19 Hino Red Dolphins
NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu 48-7 Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex
Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks 36-29 Hanazono Kintetsu Liners

Division 3

Kurita Water Gush Akishima 56-12 Yakult Levins Toda
Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima 45-17 Sayama Secom Rugguts
Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions 24-10 LeRIRO Fukuoka

Division One JRLO 2024-2025 – Round 11 Fixtures

Friday 14 March 2025 – All times shown are Japan local time.

Urayasu D-Rocks vs Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay at Tokyo, 7pm

The weekend sees the commencement of the Friday games with Urayasu D-Rocks who sit rooted at the bottom of the log taking on 3rd-placed Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo.

Kubota is coached by South African Frans Ludeke and they will want a run of wins to secure a playoff spot. The opposition seems like prime targets and the likes of Bernard Foley and co will look to secure the win on the road.

Greig Laidlaw, who is in his first season coaching his former club D-Rocks, knows he probably has to start thinking of preparing mentally for the relegation series, and they have lost the services of Israel Folau to a season-ending injury. The former Wallaby will have played only six times across the last two seasons.

The side will be handing a debut to former Leinster and Ireland age-grade representative Christopher Cosgrave at fullback.

Saturday 15 March 2025 – All times shown are Japan local time.

Toyota Verblitz vs Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo at Aichi, 1.05pm
Shizuoka Blue Revs vs Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights at Shizuoka, 2pm
Yokohama Canon Eagles vs Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo at Tokyo, 2.30pm
Kobelco Kobe Steelers vs Mie Honda Heat at Hyogo, 2.30pm

Saturday starts with Toyota Verblitz trying to defeat the defending champions and second-placed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo at Aichi. The matchup sees both sides coached by New Zealanders – Steve Hansen and Todd Blackadder respectively – and the ex-All Black Coach Hansen previously coached Blackadder from their time with Canterbury in New Zealand’s national provincial championship. Hansen has selected NRL convert Joseph Manu on the wing and Aaron Smith starts at scrumhalf – the team sits in 10th overall in what has been a disappointing season thus far.

Springbok Kwagga Smith captains the fourth-placed Blue Revs against top-of-the-table Panasonic Wild Knights. Robbie Deans’ coached side welcomes the return of Wallaby winger Marika Koroibete who will make his first appearance of the campaign after recovering from an injury. Shizuoka’s new signing Sanele Nohamba from South Africa is not in the matchday squad. Two seasons ago the Blue Revs did upset the current front-runners – the loss was the only regular-season defeat in the four years since League One began.

Yokohama Canon Eagles and Ricoh Black Rams compete in the ‘Photocopy’ derby in Tokyo as both clubs have the corporate backing of companies rooted in the office supply industry. Balck Rams Head CoachTabai Matson will want his side to continue their recent run of good form which has seen the team pick up 11 points from the last three fixtures.

The match sees an almighty scrumhalf contest as former All black and current Black Rams skipper TJ Perenara takes on Springbok Faf de Klerk. We feel for the match official in this one. The Canon Eagles did manage to stop a run of three defeats before the break with a 33-22 win over Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath.

Sixth-placed Kobelco Kobe Steelers, coached by Dave Rennie, host Mie Honda Heat in the final game on Saturday. Some of the intriguing battles within the match will be former All Black Brodie Retallick who captains Kobe (and he has scored six tries this season) taking on Argentine Pablo Matera and Franco Mostert from the Heat.

Sunday 16 March 2025 – All times shown are Japan local time

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars vs Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath at Kyoto, 2.30pm

The only Sunday Division 1 match sees Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars in 11th facing Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath in 7th. There is no sight of their new signing Mchunu from South Africa for the hosts.

The match will be hosted in Kyoto, as part of JRLO’s commitment to expanding the game’s footprint nationwide.

Brief highlights of all JRLO matches will be available here.

Division 2 JRLO 2024-2025 – Round 8 Fixtures

Saturday 15 March 2025 – All times shown are Japan local time.

Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves v Hino Red Dolpins; at Iwate, 1pm
Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks v Hanazono Kintetsu Liners; at Tokyo, 2.30pm
Red Hurricanes Osaka v Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi; at Osaka, 2.30pm
Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex v NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu; at Fukuoka, 2.30pm

The Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves won just their second game of the season last time out and host bottom-placed Hino Red Dolphins to start the Divisional matches on Saturday.

Quade Cooper’s Hanazono Kintetsu Liners are undergoing a season revival as they ramp up their hopes of competing in the promotion/relegation series. They sit in 4th and trail the second spot by 11 points, and they will need to beat Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks in 5th spot away from home.

Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi travels to Red Hurricanes Osaka on Saturday as first plays second in Division Two. The hosts fell to second after last week’s shock 35-24 defeat to Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves on an emotional day in Iwate which remembered the 2011 Tsunami. That result means the side has lost two of the last three fixtures, while the Shuttles have won their last five by an average of 40 points per match.

The final Division 2 game sees Wayne Pivac’s NEC Green Rockets head to Fukuoka to face Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex – the hosts won 48-7 when they met two weeks ago.

Division 2 JRLO 2024-2025 – Round 8 Fixtures

Division 3 JRLO 2024-2025 – Round 8 Fixtures

Sunday 16 March 2025 – All times shown are Japan local time

Le RIRO Fukuoka v Kurita Water Gush Akishima; at Fukuoka, 1pm

Sunday’s Division 3 clash is between winless Le RIRO Fukuoka and 4th-placed Kurita Water Gush Akishima as all the sides try to chase down Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima who won their eighth win of the season which equalled the number of games the club had won across the first three editions of the league!

Division 3 JRLO 2024-2025 – Round 8 Fixtures

How To Watch JRLO 2024-2025

This is what has been confirmed so far for streaming services of the JRLO 2024-2025 season:

Japanese-based broadcasters are listed as showing select matches.
One match per round will be shown on RugbyPass (in select regions).
Matches can be seen in Taiwan via ELTA TV with one match per round.
In sub-Saharan Africa, ESPN Africa will show two games a week, both live and on-demand.

The full fixture list for this JRLO season can be seen here.