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Shizuoka Blue Revs host Yokohama Canon Eagles on Sunday, 27 April in Round 16 of the Japan Rugby League One at Shizuoka Prefecture Ecopa Stadium in which the 4th-placed Blue Revs have only lost once all season, while the Yokohama Canon Eagles come into the round with only two wins under their belt in their past six matches in Division 1.
Shizuoka Blue Revs host Yokohama Canon Eagles on Sunday, 27 April in Round 16 of the Japan Rugby League One at Shizuoka Prefecture Ecopa Stadium in which the 4th-placed Blue Revs have only lost once all season, while the Yokohama Canon Eagles come into the round with only two wins under their belt in their past six matches in Division 1.
The 15,000 capacity stadium is likely to see another home win for what has been an impeccable season for the Shizuoka Blue Revs, in which they have beaten both top-two sides and both former champions of the JRLO, Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights and a double over the defending champions, Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo.
The side is coached by former Brave Blossoms Technical Director Yuichiro Fujii, the only Japanese Head Coach in the top four in the standings.
| # | Team | PL | W | L | D | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 181 | 6 | 56 |
| 2 |  Shizuoka Blue Revs | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 86 | 6 | 50 |
| 3 |  Kobelco Kobe Steelers | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 95 | 9 | 41 |
| 4 |  Yokohama Canon Eagles | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 30 |
| 5 |  Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | -161 | 2 | 26 |
| 6 |  Urayasu D-Rocks | 15 | 2 | 13 | 0 | -228 | 2 | 10 |
The 11 wins they have already secured this campaign, their best haul in the JLRO, have seen them already qualify for the end-of-season playoffs with three rounds to go. With their other fixtures to close the regular round of games being bottom-placed URAYASU D-Rocks also at home, before ending with Kobelco Kobe Steelers away from home.
The side doesn't boast all of the international star talent of some of the sides in the JRLO, with the pair of Kwagga Smith (South Africa) and Charles Piutau (NZ and Tonga) both standouts and have shared the captaincy responsibilities. Smith has been selected to start on the bench for this weekend’s match, so Piutau is the starting co-captain.
The other co-captain is Yuya Odo (known as Mr BlueRev), who passed 150 caps for the club this season and said this week “"I was incredibly happy when we found out we were going to the playoffs. But we still have three league games left. We still have a chance to move up to third place, so I feel a strong need to aim for even one place higher. We're not letting our guard down.
"The Eagles have good offensive power, but I think we can win if we can make our defensive system work properly, and this is our chance to show how much we've grown. We want to win the last three games from here.”
Elsewhere for the hosts, Malo Tuitama scored his 11th try of the season in the win over Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo last time out to lead the scoring stats for the hosts, but he is rested this weekend. He is only one try ahead of scrumhalf Shuntaro Kitamura, who starts. Sam Greene, with the kicking responsibilities, has notched up 119 points.
Centre Viliami Tahitu'a has also been immense and leads the Division’s carry stats with 237 carries so far (and a Division 1 leading 1,299 metres gained and second most clean breaks), and is followed by Malo Tuitama, who is rested this weekend and ranks 5th overall with 169 carries.
Can the visitors cause an upset this weekend? The last time these two played was in Round 4 when the Eagles did win 53-35, and the visitors have actually beaten Shizuoka Blue Revs the last three times they have played each other.
Canon Eagles
Urayasu D-Rocks
Toyota Verblitz
Canon Eagles
Black RamsFor Yokohama Canon Eagles, though, their season has gotten gradually worse, while the BlueRevs have only improved. A few rounds ago, the Eagles also lost the services of experienced Springbok scrumhalf Faf De Klerk to injury for (likely) the remainder of the campaign. They currently sit in 7th on the log, one place and one point off the top six needed to make the playoffs, but their run of form has been wretched.
Yu Tamura at flyhalf starts and occupies 4th on the overall season points scorer with a haul of 128, while their top try scorer has been right wing Kippei Ishida with 8 so far, followed by Springbok Jesse Kriel with 7 tries despite missing a few rounds due to injury - both are in the starting lineup this weekend.
Eagle’s Amanaki Lelei Mafi is third overall in the carry stats for the whole division (189), but misses out this weekend but Australian Matthew Philip does start and is second in the squad with 159 carries and will need to be stopped by the BlueRevs to halt their momentum.
Following this weekend’s tough away fixture, the side faces Kobelco Kobe Steelers at home and ends with a trip to face the defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo in Round 18.
