KUMAGAYA, Saitama (Kyodo) -- Saitama Wild Knights flyhalf Kyohei Yamasawa helped set up the opening try and was perfect from the kicking tee Saturday as he orchestrated a 26-24 win over the visiting Kubota Spears in a closely fought Japan Rugby League One clash.

Wearing the No. 10 jersey vacated by departed Japan playmaker Rikiya Matsuda, the younger of Saitama's Yamasawa brothers tallied 14 points for a home side who were forced to spend much of the second half defending near their own tryline.

Head coach Robbie Deans' men took a 20-3 lead into the break at a cold and drizzly Kumagaya Stadium after Yamasawa booted two penalties to go with Dylan Riley's converted effort and a penalty try.

Saitama scored the opening try soon after Kota Kaishi's 28th-minute yellow card reduced Kubota to 14 men, with Riley receiving Yamasawa's offload near the line and crashing over.

Tyler Paul's foul on the stroke of halftime gifted the Wild Knights seven points and left the visitors down a player once more, but a 43rd-minute yellow card to Saitama's South African lock Ockie Barnard in his League One debut made it 14 men each.

Kubota seized the momentum after head coach Frans Ludeke went to his bench early in the second half, with converted tries from David Bulbring, skipper Faulua Makisi and Halatoa Vailea putting them ahead 24-23 in the 72nd minute.

Yamasawa booted Saitama back in front before Kubota flyhalf Bernard Foley logged his only miss of the game, leaving a difficult penalty kick short with a chance to take the lead in the 78th minute.

"We played too much rugby in the middle of the ground and put ourselves under pressure, and through that, Kubota were able to bring some scoreboard pressure, but we had enough courage and enough accuracy to get home," said Deans, whose team has not lost a regular-season game since the 2022-2023 season.

In other results from the second round of the season, Black Rams Tokyo held off Tokyo Sungoliath 33-32, the Mie Heat came back to beat Toyota Verblitz 21-17, and the Shizuoka Blue Revs were 62-19 winners against the Urayasu D-Rocks.