Top Boks light up Japanese league while staying sharp for national duty back in SA

Five double World Cup winners will feature in the Japan Rugby League One play-offs over the next three weeks before rejoining the Boks ahead of a potentially monumental 2025 Test season

- By Jon Cardinelli

Club rugby's “post-season” gets under way this week with the Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) staging the first round of the play-offs.

The European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals will be held in Cardiff next weekend, and the knockout phases of the United Rugby Championship (URC), English Premiership and French Top 14 will run from 31 May to 28 June.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his lieutenants will be monitoring these high-stakes matches with great interest.

Only six weeks remain until the start of the new Test season, and although Erasmus looks set to name an extended training squad ahead of the fixtures against the Barbarians, Italy (two Tests) and Georgia, competition for places is fierce.

Fans will be familiar with the trials and tribulations of the South Africa-based players in the URC and, to a lesser extent, those plying their trade at European clubs in tournaments such as the Champions Cup, Premiership and Top 14.

This weekend, however, all and sundry should look east, where a handful of double World Cup winners will be on show in Japan.

Kolbe vs Marx

Kwagga Smith will lead the Shizuoka Blue Revs against the Kobelco Kobe Steelers at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka on Saturday, 17 May. The winner of this qualifier will advance to the semi-final against Toshiba Brave Lupus, who finished the league stage in first place.