TOKYO - Spears Tokyo Bay will battle Kobe Steelers for the Japan Rugby League One championship after holding off Saitama Wild Knights 26-24 in a grueling semifinal clash on Sunday.
The Wild Knights trailed 26-12 before taking the contest down to the wire with two late tries in the wake of Merwe Olivier's 77th-minute yellow card at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.
But missed conversions proved costly for Saitama, with Koki Takeyama off-target following Yusaku Kihara's 78th-minute effort, and Takaya Saito having his kick spectacularly charged down by Spears speedster Halatoa Vailea following replacement winger Maurice Marks's five-pointer midway through the second half.
Spears led 10-7 at the break after Vailea came off the bench to score a converted try late in the opening half as the Wild Knights played with 14 men following Dylan Riley's yellow card.
Head coach Frans Ludeke's team opened a 14-point margin on back-to-back penalties late in the second half before the Wild Knights mounted their comeback.
Saito dotted down and added a drop-goal conversion in the final minute before Spears sent their subsequent kickoff over the dead-ball line, giving the Wild Knights one last roll of the dice with a scrum restart from halfway.
With Atsushi Kanazawa's men attacking wide after the siren, Marks was tackled into touch, sparking celebrations from Tokyo Bay's "Orange Army" fan contingent.
"We knew it was going to be tough," Ludeke said. "We knew also that it was going to go down to the wire, the last play in the last minute."
After losing last year's final to Brave Lupus Tokyo, Spears will have the chance to send off departing stalwarts Bernard Foley and Pieter "Lappies" Labuschagne as champions in a week's time.
"We've got an opportunity next weekend and we want to make the most of that," Ludeke said. "We've learned a lot from last year, so this week is all about us just recovering, getting the boys ready, so we can go do battle again next week."
