Kobe Steelers have secured top seeding for the Japan Rugby League One playoffs after a 24-19 win away to the Kubota Spears, with All Black flanker Ardie Savea and lock Brodie Retallick again to the fore for incoming All Blacks coach Dave Rennie.
The result locked up first place at the end of the regular season for the Kobe side, who now go straight through to the semifinal stage of the elimination finals series. Rennie’s two-year stint in Japan has been extended right up to the final whistle of his Hyogo-based campaign, which finishes either in the Japanese final on 7 June or in the third-place match the day before.
The timing is tight. Rennie formally takes over the All Blacks on 4 July, which leaves him roughly four weeks to land in New Zealand, settle his coaching group and start preparing for the July test window after closing out one of the most demanding club seasons in the world. He will not be the only one on a short turnaround.
Savea, who has effectively spent the entire 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season on his Moana Pasifika sabbatical, has been a talisman in Japan since arriving and is widely tipped as a contender to take over the All Blacks captaincy from Scott Barrett. According to RNZ Sport, Savea steered Kobe home against Kubota and remains the central figure in a forward pack that has only grown stronger as the regular season has worn on.
The other striking storyline is Retallick. The veteran second rower, often quietly effective rather than statistically loud, has been the most prolific try scorer in the entire competition this season. RNZ has him on 17 tries, one short of the all-time League One season record, which is a remarkable haul for any forward, let alone a lock now well into his thirties. Retallick is also serving as co-captain alongside Savea, and his form is the kind of late-career resurgence that will be hard for the new All Blacks coaching group to ignore.
Anton Lienert-Brown is the third Kobe-based All Black in the conversation. The midfielder also missed Super Rugby Pacific this year on his Japan-based deal, but is firmly in the picture for All Blacks selection on the strength of his work in the centre channel for the Steelers. With Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea and Billy Proctor all jostling for the two starting midfield jerseys back home, an experienced presence like Lienert-Brown gives Rennie genuine options for the All Blacks’ July fixtures.
The wider point for New Zealand fans is that Rennie’s incoming All Blacks succession is now being shaped in real time, on the other side of the world. There is no off-season tour audition, no Super Rugby selection campaign, no closed-doors trial week to settle on a starting unit. Instead, three of his most senior Kobe players are auditioning by simply playing on, week after week, and pushing through to the Japanese finals.
The playoff format means Kobe now have a short stand-down before the semifinal weekend, with the Japanese decider scheduled for Saturday 7 June. The third versus fourth place playoff goes a day earlier, on Friday 6 June. The Steelers are guaranteed a place in one of those two matches, and on current form the final is well within reach.
That has implications back home. The All Blacks gather in early July, with Rennie’s first test window the following weekend. If Kobe make and win the final on 7 June, Savea, Retallick and Lienert-Brown will arrive in camp later than almost every domestic contender, off the back of a championship-winning campaign in one of the most physical leagues on the calendar.
The Kobelco side is built around its overseas spine, and Rennie has spoken often about the influence of his New Zealand stars on the squad’s culture. The official roster page for the Kobelco Kobe Steelers lists a side heavy with internationals, but it is the three New Zealanders who have most consistently lifted Kobe’s performances during the run-in.
For Kubota Spears, the loss ends the regular season in second place. They will host a home elimination match in the coming fortnight, with the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights and Tokyo Sungoliath also still in the title picture.
For New Zealand fans, the next four weeks will be unusually loaded. Super Rugby Pacific’s regular season is closing out, the All Blacks squad is being firmed up, and three of the most senior pieces of that puzzle are still on the field in Japan playing for a championship. Rennie, the man who has to pull it all together, will keep his head down at Kobe until the very last whistle.
What is your read on the Kobe-based trio’s chances of starting in the opening All Blacks test of the Rennie era? Let us know in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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