RUGBY IN JAPAN VOL. 11, No.37

RiJ: Vol.11 No.37, 16 September 2014

RiJ looks at the fourth round of the new season of Top League this issue.

Enjoy the read.

CONTENTS

• Top League 2014-15:
  -Stage One, Round Four

 

Japan Rugby Top League 2014-15

Stage One Round Four

Pool A

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Fri, 12 Sep 2014	Toshiba (4Ts)	30-26	NEC (2Ts)	19:30	Chichibu, Tokyo
Sat, 13 Sep 2014	Sanix (2Ts)	12-52	Yamaha (8Ts)	16:40	Tosu, Saga
	Toyota Industries (1T)	5-54	Panasonic (6Ts)	19:05	Suzuka, Mie
Sun, 14 Sep 2014	Kubota (3Ts)	29-27	NTT Comm. (3Ts)	18:20	Mito, Ibaraki

Pool B

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Sat, 13 Sep 2014	Coca-Cola (2Ts)	23-25	Toyota (3Ts)	19:00	Tosu, Saga
	Suntory (5Ts)	38-26	Ricoh (4Ts)	18:00	Yokohama, Kanagawa
	NTT Docomo (4Ts)	26-36	Kobe (5Ts)	18:00	Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi
Sun, 14 Sep 2014	Canon (5Ts)	36-31	Kintetsu (4Ts)	16:00	Mito, Ibaraki

Stage One Round Four Wrap-up

Pool A

On Friday evening at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo, Toshiba Brave Lupus beat NEC Green Rockets 30-26. Toshiba were playing their fourth game in a row at this venue producing their third win of the season. After losing to Kubota for the first time in eleven years the previous round, the Brave Lupus were well motivated to hit back with a vengeance against NEC. Toshiba scored four tries to two to take maximum points from the match, but NEC proved tough to subdue. Wing Shohei Toyoshima scored two tries, one in either half and picked up the man of the match honours for his efforts. Elsewhere, Yu Tamura booted four penalties for NEC who were always chasing the game after trailing 18-0 after the first half hour of play.

On Saturday, in the first game of a double header at the Best Amenities Stadium in Tosu city in Saga prefecture, Kyushu-based Munakata Sanix Blues were on home turf to take on Yamaha Jubilo. The Blues went down 52-12 with the Jubilo running in eight tries to two in an impressive display of open rugby. Yamaha stamped their authority up front in the first half with flanker Mose Tuiali’i and No8 Kyosuke Horie both touching down for doubles. Yamaha led 26-5 at the break and this blew out to 45-5 by the hour mark. Although both sides managed a try apiece over the closing stages, Jubilo collected full competition points.

In Suzuka city in Mie prefecture on Saturday, Toyota Industries Shuttles played defending champions Panasonic Wild Knights and lost 54-5. The Knights secured the four-try bonus point in this big win while the Shuttles failed to front up in defence for the full eighty minutes. Fullback Tadahiro Miwa scored a try and kicked three conversions and four penalties in the opening stanza to have the Knights out to a 33-5 lead at the break. The trend continued after the resumption of play with three more tries in the latter half with left wing and man of the match scoring two tries overall.

On Sunday, Kubota Spears played NTT Communications Shining Arcs at the K’s Denki Stadium in Mito city, Ibaraki prefecture, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat when Harumichi Tatekawa kicked a last-gasp penalty to bring home the win 29-27. Neither side gave an inch with the lead changing several times throughout this thrilling match with Tatekawa the hero in the end. NTT Comm. led 17-10 at halftime but the Spears held a 26-20 lead with fifteen minutes left to play. No8 Kosuke Yamashita scored a vital try in the twenty-sixth minute and Elton Jantjies potted the extras to put the Arcs in front 27-26. NTT held on until the forty-four minute of the half when Tatekawa scrambled over the match-winning penalty.

Pool B

On Saturday, in the second game of a double header at the Best Amenities Stadium in Tosu city in Saga prefecture, Kyushu-based Coca-Cola West Red Sparks were on home turf to face Toyota Verblitz but went down 25-23. Coca-Cola were unlucky after holding a 16-8 lead at the halftime break. However, the Red Sparks did not maintain the momentum over the opening stages of the second half and this allowed Toyota to build points on the scoreboard. Five-eighth Takaya Monji touched down for Toyota early in the second half and then converted his own try before flanker Ryo Kusaka put the Verblitz in the lead with a try in the twelfth minute. Monji kicked the conversion and then added a penalty to open the gap to 25-16. Halfback Shota Egashira scored a try on the hour to narrow the margin but that was the end of the scoring with Toyota taking the win.

In Yokohama on Saturday, Suntory Sungoliath beat Ricoh Black Rams 38-26. It was another tough day at the office for the Rams against the Sungoliath with Suntory dominating the first half to lead 24-0 at halftime. Ricoh went on to win the second half 26-14 with four tries, but it was to no avail as Suntory had plenty of runs on the board. At one point in the second half, Suntory led 38-5 and with the game already gone, Ricoh dug deep to come away with a bonus point. Five-eighth Tusi Pisi was the man of the match even though the coaching staff replaced him at halftime, but that was the influence he had on the result.

Down in Yamaguchi prefecture on Saturday, NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes lost to Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 36-26 in this round four clash. NTT Docomo have started badly this season with four straight losses while Kobe have had four wins in a row to sit on top of the table. With their fortunes going in opposite directions, the smart money was on Kobe to win and keep the trend going, and that is exactly what they did. The Steelers led 29-0 early in the second half before taking the foot of the accelerator and allowing the Red Hurricanes to run in four tries. Giant Kobe lock Andries Bekker was man of the match.

On Sunday, Canon Eagles beat Kintetsu Liners 36-31 at the K’s Denki Stadium in Mito city, Ibaraki prefecture. The Eagles outscored the Liners five tries to four and despite the closeness of the final score line, led from beginning to end. Canon built on a 14-3 halftime lead and saw of Kintetsu even though the latter won the second half 28-22. In a high scoring second half that kept the scorekeeper busy, Kintetsu were always trying to come from behind, but Canon kept the concentration levels high until the end. Flanker Adam Thomson added another try to his season tally while Radike Samo was among the try scorers for Kintetsu.

Pool A

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Yamaha	4	3	0	1	154	42	112	3	1	16
2	Toshiba	4	3	0	1	110	91	19	2	1	15
3	Panasonic	4	3	0	1	141	75	66	2	0	14
4	NTT Comm.	4	2	0	2	98	69	29	1	2	11
5	Kubota	4	2	0	2	77	116	-39	0	0	8
6	NEC	4	1	0	3	88	124	-36	1	2	7
7	Sanix	4	1	0	3	73	139	-66	0	0	5
8	Toyota Industries	4	1	0	3	51	136	-85	1	0	5

Pool B

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Kobe	4	4	0	0	112	46	66	2	0	18
2	Suntory	4	4	0	0	88	66	22	1	0	17
3	Toyota	4	3	0	1	89	71	18	1	1	14
4	Canon	4	2	0	2	102	95	7	1	2	12
5	Kintetsu	4	2	0	2	83	102	-19	1	1	10
6	Coca-Cola	4	1	0	3	51	82	-31	0	2	6
7	Ricoh	4	0	0	4	87	118	-31	0	3	3
8	NTT Docomo	4	0	0	4	71	103	-32	1	2	3

Four points for win, two for draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2).

Leading Point Scorers

At the completion Stage 1, Round 4, Toshiba halfback Takahiro Ogawa tops the point scorers list with 50 points.

	Name	Team	T	G	PG	DG	Pts
1	Takahiro Ogawa	Toshiba	1	9	9	0	50
2	Ayumu Goromaru	Yamaha	0	14	7	0	49
3	Takaya Monji	Toyota	1	9	7	0	44
4	Daniel Peters	Ricoh	1	8	7	0	42
4	Ryohei Mitomo	Canon	1	11	5	0	42
6	Harumichi Tatekawa	Kubota	0	5	9	0	37
7	Elton Jantjies	NTT Comm.	0	6	8	0	36
8	Yasumasa Shigemitsu	Kintetsu	1	9	4	0	35
9	Tadahiro Miwa	Panasonic	1	7	5	0	34
10	Yu Tamura	NEC	0	8	5	0	31

Leading Try Scorers

At the completion Stage 1, Round 4, Canon back rower Adam Thomson tops the try scorers list with five tries.

	Name	Team	Tries
1	Adam Thomson	Canon	5
2	Daisuke Komatsu	Ricoh	4
2	Yoshimi Watanabe	NTT Docomo	4
2	Siale Piutau	Yamaha	4
5	Hayato Nishibashi	NTT Comm.	3
5	Takaaki Nakazuru	Suntory	3
5	Mose Tuiali’i	Yamaha	3
5	Gene Fairbanks	Kintetsu	3
9	Itaru Taniguchi	Kobe	2
9	Duke Krishnan	Yamaha	2
9	Katsuyuki Sakai	Toyota Ind.	2
9	Takeshi Hino	Yamaha	2
9	Masatoshi Miyazawa	Yamaha	2

Stage 1, Round 4 Man-of-the-match Awards

Date	Group	Teams	Score	Teams	MOTM
Fri 12 Sep 2014	A	Toshiba	30-26	NEC	Shohei Toyoshima,
					Toshiba No.14
Sat 13 Sep 2014	A	Sanix	12-52	Yamaha	Tatsuhiko Otao,
					Yamaha No.10
	B	Coca-Cola	23-25	Toyota	Shota Egashira,
					Coca-Cola No.9
	B	Suntory	38-26	Ricoh	Tusi Pisi,
					Suntory No.12
	A	Toyota Industries	5-54	Panasonic	Akihito Yamada,
					Panasonic No.11
	B	NTT Docomo	26-36	Kobe	Andries Bekker,
					Kobe No.5
Sun 14 Sep 2014	B	Canon	36-31	Kintetsu	Tokiro Harada,
					Canon No.11
	A	Kubota	29-27	NTT Comm.	Harumichi Tatekawa,
					Kubota No.12