A new Japanese National Cup champion will be crowned in 2021 after the Kamisenryu Sea Turtles and Mitaka Spartans finished top of their respective divisions.
The Japanese National Cup is Japan’s top domestic Rugby League competition and has history dating back to 1998. The 2021 edition of the national championship competition featured five teams broken into two divisions.
The Eastern Division, which is based around Tokyo, featured the Mitaka Spartans, South Ikebukuro Rabbitohs and the Abiko Ducks.
The Western Division, which is based around Osaka, featured the Kamisenryu Sea Turtles and Kansai Kaminari.
The Sea Turtles qualified after defeating the Kaminari 56 – 34 in the Western Division opener. Unfortunately with COVID impacting playing numbers, the second match between the two clubs was turned into a nine-a-side game, with the Kaminari defeating the Sea Turtles 24 – 20.
The Mitaka Spartans finished undefeated in the East Division.
The last iteration of the Japanese National Cup was in 2019.
