Fans Guide To The NTT Japan Rugby League One 2024-25 Season
rugbyasia247
Posted On December 16, 2024
The fourth edition of NTT Japan Rugby League One kicks off on Saturday, December 21 2024. Japan’s premier club competition will again feature several star overseas players and coaches and the best in Japanese talent.
Japan Rugby League One General Incorporated Association announced they had reached a basic agreement with NTT to renew the contract for them to be the title partner for Japan Rugby League One through the 2024-25 season – the contract will last for three seasons.
JRLO chairman Genichi Tamatsuka recently congratulated Toyota Verblitz backrower Pieter Steph du Toit on his achievement in winning the World Rugby Player of the Year title, he is the first player to win the award while currently playing for a Japanese club.
You can view the JRLO pre-season media conference here (held on December 9th 2024) although most of it is in Japanese with no translations, there is some English spoken by foreign players about the upcoming season.
NTT Japan Rugby League One 2024-2024 Season Format
As reported previously, there are three new teams for the 2024-25 season, SECOM Sayama Rugguts (based in Saitama), Yakult Levins (Toda) and LeRIRO Fukuoka (Ukiha city) and a total of 26 teams will compete across the three divisions.
The JRLO will comprise of Division 1 (12 teams), Division 2 (8 teams), and Division 3 (6 teams). The Division 1 champions from the previous season are Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo who beat Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in the final in Tokyo.
The NTT League One 2024-25 will kick off in each division on Saturday, December 21st 2024, and games will be held in 23 prefectures, including Tochigi, Yamanashi, and Kyoto, which will be the first time League One is held in those prefectures.
The number of participating teams in the playoff tournament will increase from four to six, with a total of six matches from the quarterfinals onwards, and the playoff tournament final will be held on Sunday, June 1st, 2025.
The NTT Japan Rugby League One 2024-25 matches will also be using a number of the new World Rugby rules and trial rules, which include:
- 20-minute red card and off-field review
- Shortening the time for conversion kicks to 60 seconds
- Lineouts must be formed within 30 seconds
- Protection of the scrum-half at scrums, rucks and mauls
- Lineout throws that are not straight but are uncontested will not be penalised
More of these can be seen here.
Division 1 – NTT JRLO 2024-2025
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo are the defending champions after shocking the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in the final last season – becoming the third champions of the first three seasons of League One. The champions stars include All Blacks Richie Mo’unga and backrower Shannon Frizell as well as Brave Blossoms winger Jone Naikabula, second rower Warner Dearns, hooker Mamoru Harada and veteran loose forward Michael Leitch.
The losing finalists have appeared in all of the JRLO finals thus far and boast a record of having won all but six of their 54 matches in the qualifying phase. Sam Whitelock has joined Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights as an advisor and this season they are without hooker Shota Horie (retirement) and long-time Brave Blossoms flyhalf Rikiya Matsuda who has replaced All Black Beauden Barrett at Toyota Verblitz where the Director of Rugby is former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and the Head Coach is Ian Foster!
Toyota Verblitz’s Director of Rugby is former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and the Head Coach is Ian Foster
Former Glasgow Head Coach Dave Rennie has at Kobe Steelers signed Scottish international hooker George Turner, as well as Yokohama’s winger Inoke Burua, and ex-Ulster coach Dan McFarland.
Urayasu D-Rocks new Head Coach is former international and D-Rocks scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw who can call on the likes of Israel Folau, Samu Kerevi, and new signing Springbok backrower Jasper Wiese.
Ricoh Black Rams are bolstered by the addition of ex-Harlequins coach Tabai Matson, and All Black scrumhalf TJ Perenara.
Several players who were ruled out last season due to injuries make welcome returns to their sides in the JRLO this season, including South Africans Malcolm Marx, Kwagga Smith, Faf de Klerk and Jesse Kriel, as well as Argentinean Pablo Matera.
Division 2 – NTT JRLO 2024-2025
Hanazono Liners dropped down to Division 2 after they lost a Replacement Battle against Urayasu D-Rocks, and this season have All Black back-rower Akira Ioane and Exeter Chiefs midfielder Tom Hendrickson in a side that still includes the veteran Wallaby pair, flyhalf Quade Cooper and scrumhalf Will Genia.
NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu and Toyota Shuttles Aichi both missed out on promotion to the top division and the latter is again coached by former Wales Head Coach Wayne Pivac who saw his side have a poor run at the end of the campaign. He has signed Wales international Rhys Patchell to the roster as well as ex-Brave Blossoms fullback Lemeki Lomano Lava.
Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex, Japan Steel Kamaishi Seawaves and NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka are also in the division – the latter signed Bath second rower Elliott Stooke and ex-Munster backrower Jack O’Sullivan.
The Division also sees the return of promoted Wallaby Rory Arnold’s Hino Red Dolphins along with All Black and Samoa flyhalf Lima Sopoaga’s Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks so there will be plenty of spice in the second division this season.
Division 3 – NTT JRLO 2024-2025
The addition of Le RIRO Fukuoka, Yakult Levins Toda and SECOM Sayama Rugguts to Division Three, means the
newcomers join Mazda SkyActivs Hiroshima, Chugoku Electric Power Red Regulions, as well as Kurita Water Gush Akishima.
Veteran Wales second rower Cory Hill and ex-Maori All Blacks and Green Rockets backrow Whetukamokamo Douglas will both represent the Rugguts, as well as Super Rugby experienced players TJ Faine and Chase Tiatia so they are the ones to watch.
- Season Opener: Saturday, December 21st
- Playoff Tournament: Saturday, May 17th, 2025
- Playoff Tournament Finals: Sunday, June 1, 2025 (Scheduled)
*It should be noted that on the weekend of January 18-19 2025, the semi-finals of the National Women’s Championship semifinals will take place alongside (doubleheaders) of the 5th round of the JRLO.
JRLO Global Coverage And Broadcast Partnerships
Last season was a record-breaking one for crowd attendance in the Japan Rugby League One, which also saw more broadcast partnerships which enabled audiences in Australia, New Zealand, across Africa, and in Asia to watch more games live.
Matches from the JRLO were able to be watched in Africa on ESPN Africa, in New Zealand via TVNZ, and in some regions on World Rugby’s global rugbypass.com website, while Malaysian TV streaming provider Astro SuperSport channel also made some fixtures available for streaming.
The 2024 JRLO League One Final was streamed for free on World Rugby’s RugbyPass app and webpage for audiences outside of Japan and New Zealand.
The latest addition for this 2024-2025 season is an agreement with Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) which will show one match per round live via ELTA TV.
From a fan-attendance point of view, the JLRO last season surpassed one million spectators in a season for the first time prior to the finals being played.
There have been an increasing number of agreements between Japanese clubs with Australia and NZ in particular, and on December 6th 2024, the New Zealand Super Rugby team, the Hurricanes, announced that they would display the logo of Japanese agricultural machinery manufacturer Kubota on the chest of their home jerseys (men and women) for two seasons starting from the 2025 season.
The official JRLO English site version has also been updated before the season gets underway which is a good resource for the schedule.
What New International Stars Have Joined the NTT Japan Rugby League One for the 2024-2025 Season?
Several quality players with international, Super Rugby, NPC, Currie Cup and other competition experience have also joined the JRLO this season. The appeal of playing in Japan is also opening up interesting eligibility questions over a number of talented players who could be playing for Japan in a few years. Japan has even lured a South African 7s player to a team outside of the top 3 divisions in the JRLO with Shaun Williams (Commonwealth gold 2022 medalist and Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medalist) heading to Akita Northern Bullets who compete in the Top East League.
Here are some of the top signings for the JRLO 2024-2025 season:
Photo Credit – Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars signed Springbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse
- Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars signed Springbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse for the upcoming Japanese season and he became the 11th current Springbok representative to play in Japan.
- Uryasu D-Rocks signed fellow Springbok backrower Jasper Wiese.
- All Black scrumhalf TJ Perenara, who has previously played for Red Hurricanes Osaka, joins Black Rams Tokyo for the new season.
- Scotland international Richie Gray has joined Toyota Verblitz.
- Fellow Scottish international George Turner has joined Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
- Former Wallaby Liam Gill is with Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo this JRLO season.
- Wales international Rhys Patchell has joined NEC Green Rockets.
- All Black Akira Ioane has joined the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners.
- Just before the season was due to get underway, All Black Shaun Stevenson has been seeking to leave New Zealand rugby with immediate effect to join the JRLO and the Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay but is waiting to see if he would be granted an early release from his Chiefs contract.
Not for this season, but uncapped South African Sanele Nohamba has signed on to head to JRLO on the 1st of July 2025 where has signed with Shizuoka Blue Revs – joining the likes of Springbok Kwagga Smith.
Liam Williams has left the JRLO and Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay after one season and joined Saracens, while Dane Coles who was a medical joker replacement has retired. South African Johan Ackermann has left the JRLO and taken up a role as a coaching consultant for the Junior Springboks.
It should also be noted that for the first time, a female referee has been selected to officiate in the JRLO, with the appointment of Ano Kuwai.
JRLO News
- Ardie Savea – Playing Rugby In The JRLO Has Been A Blessing.
- Rugby Life At JRLO Side Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay – Bernard Foley, Dane Coles & Liam Williams.
- Fumi Tanaka – Japanese Coaching Aspirations & His Views On The Development of Japanese Rugby
- Greig Laidlaw Discusses Plans For Urayasu D-Rocks As Head Coach.
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