Former All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick just can’t stop scoring tries this season in the Japan Rugby League.
The Dave Rennie-coached Kobelco Kobe Steelers faced off against the bottom of the table Yokohama Canon Eagles in round six of the 2025/26 season this weekend, and survived a late rally to secure a narrow 38-32 victory.
Kobe and Retallick shine
Heading into the fixture, Retallick had already scored seven tries in five rounds of action, including four scores against the BlackRams Tokyo last time out.
He kept the streak going this weekend, grabbing a try, provided an assist for another, and is now the competition’s leading try scorer.
Despite the fact that both teams entered the fixture on opposite ends of the Japan Rugby League One table, it was a closely fought encounter with Kobe holding a narrow 8-10 lead at half-time, despite being down a man with Ardie Savea in the sin bin.
However, the game opened up in the second 40 minutes with Retallick scoring the second of three tries in a 15-minute scoring spree that blew Kobe out to a 23-point lead.
That period of dominance should have seen Kobe cruise to victory, especially against a winless Eagles outfit, but Leon MacDonald’s charges looked en route to an incredible late comeback.
Springboks centre and Canon captain Jesse Kriel scored two tries for the hosts, with his second score putting his side within striking distance of Kobe.
Camped deep inside their 22, the Eagles launched a last-ditch attempt at winning the match by launching an attack from behind their own try line, but a sharp tackle by Retallick killed the threat off and extended Kobe’s unbeaten run to five matches – the club’s best run since a side coached by Wayne Smith won the title in 2018 during a sequence of 18 wins on end.
Kobe’s last title-winning side, which was captained by All Black scrum-half Andy Ellis, also featured his Test colleague and three-time World Rugby Player of the Year, Dan Carter.
Ex-All Blacks coaches continue to struggle
Meanwhile, the result means that former All Blacks assistant coach MacDonald remains winless in the Japanese league, falling to his sixth straight defeat, with the club’s losing streak in regular-season matches extending to 10.
It’s been a tough season for former All Blacks coaches this campaign, with Sir Steve Hansen and Ian Foster just a point and a place better off than MacDonald’s Eagles on the league table.
Toyota Verblitz haven’t won since their opening game of the season and were dealt their latest defeat by the Shizuoka BlueRevs, who climbed into the top six.
Springboks flanker Kwagga Smith scored twice off the bench as the BlueRevs marched to an impressive 43-19 victory, which furthers Verblitz’s threat of featuring in the relegation series along with the Eagles.
Hansen and Foster’s side haven’t won since the opening round of action, and have conceded 203 points during a horrific five-game run since.
Pieter-Steph du Toit’s long-term injury has furthered the side’s woes, while rumours in France state that Top 14 club Pau are keen to land the services of Aaron Smith, whose contract expires at the end of the season.
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