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The Kwagga Smith fairytale is sadly over

Shizuoka BlueRevs' Kwagga Smith (C) is tackled by Kobelco Kobe Steelers' k16 during the NTT Japan Rugby League One Play-Off quarter final between Shizuoka BlueRevs and Kobelco Kobe Steelers at Hanazono Rugby Stadium on May 17, 2025 in Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan. (Photo by Paul Miller/Getty Images)

The fairlytale is over for Kwagga Smith’s Shizuoka BlueRevs after they were felled 35-20 by Kobelco Kobe Steelers in the opening quarter final of Japan Rugby League One.

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The competition’s Cinderella story, the BlueRevs won 14 games in qualifying to finish the regular season fourth, but the tone was set for yesterday’s elimination contest from the kick off when Kobe forced a turnover by denying Shizuoka the opportunity to clear the ball from a maul.

The error ultimately led to the first points when Bryn Gatland goaled a penalty, and the former Chiefs flyhalf had a major influence on proceedings, setting up two of his side’s four tries.

A perfectly timed pass enabled fullback Seungsin Lee to pierce the Shizuoka defence shortly after halftime, while a composed cross-field kick created the opportunity for the 100-kilogram Inoke Burua to regather and score Kobe’s match-sealing try.

The kick isolated the Blue Revs’ 74-kilogram fullback Futo Yamaguchi, whom Burua simply ran over to extend the Steelers’ lead to nine points with seven minutes remaining.

Fixture
Japan Rugby League One
Shizuoka BlueRevs
20 - 35
Full-time
Kobelco Kobe Steelers
All Stats and Data

Earlier, two of the ‘finds’ of the BlueRevs season had kept them in touch, with winger Valynce Te Whare scoring following a midfield break by inside centre Viliami Tahitua, while scrumhalf Shuntaro Kitamura bagged the 15th try of his stunning rookie season, running the right midfield lines in support of a sideline bust by winger Malo Tuitama.

Te Whare had the misfortune to ‘sin’ nine minutes after scoring the eighth try of his maiden Japanese season, conceding a penalty try and a yellow card after he hit Kazuma Ueda high as the Kobe winger arrowed towards the corner.

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The win has earned Dave Rennie’s men a shot at defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo in Saturday’s opening semi-final, while Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay will play Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights a day later after they secured a nail-biting 20-15 win over Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath today.

Both sides scored two tries, with Suntory’s stars, ex-All Black skipper Sam Cane and Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe both crossing, but Sungoliath paid dearly for ill-discipline and high error rate, conceding the match-winning try when South African second rower Ruan Botha forced his way over from a tap penalty.

Kubota had earlier profited from a needless forward pass by Suntory inside their 22 metres, with winger Komasa Nezuka beating three defenders after being worked to the edge from the scrum.

Cane’s try came after Suntory caught their rivals out from a cleverly worked short lineout, while Kolbe won a 40-metre race to the goal-line following a perfect kick through by veteran Brave Blossoms fullback Kotaro Matsushima, but he was unable to convert from wide out.

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It was the first of the Springbok’s three misses off the goal kicking tee which, alongside the concession of a 14-9 penalty count, help precipitate Suntory’s exit from the competition.

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Comments

4 Comments
A
Ace 49 days ago

i fkn hate clickbait.


Par for the course for this joke of a site.

B
BeamMeUp 49 days ago

Clickbait headline! Yellow card! 🟨

R
RW 50 days ago

Why was Kwagga Smith even mentioned in the headlines? I saw nothing in the article that even mentioned him.

v
vc 50 days ago

I agree, but is he not the captain. It is still a bad article

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S
Soliloquin 21 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Thanks for that article! The analogy is very interesting, and it helps opening up the player welfare debate around the number of games and minutes played.

Better rested players mean more quality rugby. It means less risk of injury, so less risk of losing money by paying a salary to an injured player.

But it also means choices of games.


For those French players who were not involved in the Top14 playoffs, yet approaching and breaking the 2000’/25 games criteria, like Fickou, Auradou, Le Garrec or Guillard, were the 3 weeks enough to rest between the last game of the season and the first test?

While bearing in mind there was still a game the week before against a strong English squad at Twickenham.


Top 14 clubs and the LNR (but also the ECPR) need to understand that they hugely participate in the fatigue of players - LBB stated that he was utterly exhausted by the season 2 days ago. And adding this World Club competition is scary, scarily resembling the current World Club competition in football held in the US, which pushes some players to go beyond 70 games/year…


Would a restriction of games per player possible, so that they could be involved in Summer tours a possibility? With maybe part of the salary taken care by the French Federation, proportionate to the number of missed games?

How such a compensation could come? Can the French Federation find the funds for that?

What is the number of games possible? How would fare the clubs fighting relegation - like how could Stade Français accept this season, when they saved themselves almost during the last round, that Léo Barré could stop playing for the club if he was to go on tour against NZ with so much at stake?


I have no clue for all of that, but I have no doubt solutions can be found.

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AlanP 55 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

“The Toulon man is really a number seven in a wing’s body”

This is so true! 🤣

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