Four Springboks players and Wallabies No. 10 Bernard Foley have been selected on the Japan league’s team of the year following last weekend’s conclusion of the 2023 season. 

Hooker Malcolm Marx finished the campaign as a league champion, helping the Kubota Spears to 17-15 win over the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, and the South African front-rower now has been named in an end-of-season best XV.

Keeping him good company are two fellow Springboks forwards, back-rowers Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kwagga Smith, while scrum-half Faf de Klerk, who finished his season with the Yokohama Canon Eagles with a 26-20 win over Tokyo Sungoliath in the third-place playoff, was named the standout No. 9 in his first season in Japan. He joined from Sale in England.

Elsewhere, Wallabies out-half Foley got the nod as the best No. 10, following his exploits as a Spears’ teammate of Marx.

本日、NTT JAPAN RUGBY LEAGUE ONE 2022-23 AWARDS が都内にて開催されました。
ファンのみなさんの投票も反映された、ベストフィフティーンや新人賞をはじめ、今シーズン活躍した選手、チーム、HC、レフリーに各賞が贈られました。

受賞されたみなさん、本当におめでとうございます👏… pic.twitter.com/m1KkchWnMi

— JAPAN RUGBY LEAGUE ONE｜リーグワン🏉 (@LeagueOne_JP) May 22, 2023

Japan Top League Team Of The Season 2023

1. Keita Inagaki (Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights)
2. Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears Funabashi/Tokyo Bay)
3. Opeti Helu (Kubota Spears Funabashi/Tokyo Bay)
4. Warner Dearns (Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo)
5. Harry Hockings (Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath)
6. Kazuki Himeno (Toyota Verblitz)
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz)
8. Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs)
9. Faf de Klerk (Yokohama Canon Eagles)
10. Bernard Foley (Kubota Spears Funabashi/Tokyo Bay)
11. Haruto Kida (Kubota Spears Funabashi/Tokyo Bay)
12. Dylan Riley (Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights)
13. Tomoki Osada (Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights)
14. Seiya Ozaki (Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath)
15. Ryuji Noguchi (Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights)