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Leading Boks continue to light up Japanese league while honing skills for South Africa

Leading Boks continue to light up Japanese league while honing skills for South Africa
Cheslin Kolbe of Suntory Sungoliath offloads the ball during the NTT Japan Rugby League One Play-Off Semi Final between Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo and Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground on May 19, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)
Jon Cardinelli
By Jon Cardinelli
16 May 2025
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Five double World Cup-winners will feature in the Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) playoffs over the next three weeks before rejoining the Springboks before a potentially monumental 2025 Test season.

Club rugby’s “post-season” gets under way this week, with the JRLO staging the first round of the playoffs.

The European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals will be held in Cardiff next weekend, while the knockout phases of the United Rugby Championship, 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 while Erasmus looks set to name an extended training squad before 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 like 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. The winner of this qualifier will advance to the semi-final against Toshiba Brave Lupus, who finished the league stage in first place.

On Sunday, Malcolm Marx’s Kubota Spears will take on Cheslin Kolbe’s Suntory Sungoliath at the same venue.

Marx and national teammate Jesse Kriel have been among the league’s top try-scorers (nine apiece), while Kolbe has enjoyed the goal-kicking duties with Suntory and amassed 76 points to date. It might not be long before Kolbe is given a similar responsibility at the Boks, albeit as an alternative option.

The winner of the second fixture will face the Saitama Wild Knights, one of the most dominant teams in the JRLO over the past three seasons. Lood de Jager has been in outstanding form for the Knights since returning from a long injury layoff, while Damian de Allende has scored seven of his team’s tries.

How Japanese club stints boost Boks


Former coaches and players will tell you why so many high-profile South African veterans opt for a stint in Japan over an opportunity in Europe.

While the salary is certainly a factor, the Japanese season is shorter and less demanding than that of the European club schedule, and there are restrictions on the selection of foreign players over the course of the 18-game league phase.

As a result, the Boks spread across the JRLO clubs have more time to rest and condition their bodies over the course of the competition and typically return to South Africa well before the start of the new Test season.

There are currently 11 World Cup winners playing club rugby in Japan.

That number could swell to 12 next season, if Bok flyhalf Manie Libbok is granted a sabbatical by the Stormers and pursues an opportunity with the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners. The Liners are currently in the Japanese second division, but will have a shot at promotion when they face Franco Mostert’s Mie Honda Heat in the coming weeks.

Tevita Tatafu of Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath is tackled by Kwagga Smith of Shizuoka BlueRevs (Photo: Toru Hanai / Getty Images)



Cheslin Kolbe of Suntory Sungoliath offloads against Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo. (Photo: Koki Nagahama / Getty Images)



Kriel and Faf de Klerk will play no part in the JRLO playoffs, after their team, the Yokohama Canon Eagles, failed to qualify.

Pieter-Steph du Toit missed the entire campaign through injury, while his side, Toyota Verblitz, finished outside of the top six. Jasper Wiese, who is also recovering from injury, won’t feature again for the last-placed Urayasu D-Rocks, who are set for a promotion-relegation battle of their own.

Kurt-Lee Arendse dazzled during his short-term contract with the Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, but the club failed to qualify for the knockouts.

While Arendse is back in South Africa, he won’t be available to the Bulls for the URC playoffs, and there is talk of the Bok winger pursuing a full-time contract in Japan.

SA franchises lose out


Bulls director of rugby Jake White expressed his frustration with the situation this past week.

“It’s a very bad thing that you bring a guy to the club, build him and make him who he is, and then you don’t have the luxury of having him when you need him the most and at the best time of his career,” White told supersport.com.

“Unfortunately, that’s going to happen more and more, but I’m never going to say, ah well, let it be.

“We talk a lot about bringing players through, but our job is not to find youngsters and pay their school fees by putting them in big games and then handing them over to other clubs to become rock stars.

“We’re not in that industry. We’re in a country where rugby is important and winning is important.”

White has a point.

The Boks still have access to the best players in the world, regardless of their geographical location, but the South African franchises continue to lose talent to European and Japanese clubs.

The socioeconomic situation in South Africa certainly influences those players’ decisions, as they can earn far more money abroad than they can at home.

Given the option between Europe and Japan, the best players head east, where they can secure a life-changing salary and prioritise their physical wellbeing. According to the players who’ve followed this route, a stint in Japan improves the chances of a lengthy international career.

With that in mind, it’s the best option for the leading players and for the Bok team. Unfortunately, as White suggests, it’s the local franchises that lose out in this equation.

There are a few examples of star players turning down lucrative overseas offers and returning to South Africa.

Leicester Tigers flyhalf Handré Pollard will rejoin the Bulls before next season, while Montpellier scrumhalf Cobus Reinach is heading to the Stormers.

And yet, all things considered, there’s reason to believe that the Bok contingent based in Japan will continue to grow in the coming years. DM

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