RUGBY IN JAPAN VOL.11 No.35

Rugby in Japan returns thanks to Ian McDonnell who lives and teaches in Japan. There are a number of back issues missing. I have been very busy with my job (also teaching) and have been away overseas September-October. I am therefor behind with publishing Ian’s RiJ..I will endeavour to catch up but it will take a few weeks.

RiJ: Vol.11 No.35, 02 September 2014

RiJ looks at the second round of the new season of Top League this issue. There are a few small news items in ‘Odds & Sods’ too.

Enjoy the read.

CONTENTS

• Top League 2014-15:
  -Stage One, Round Two
• Odds & Sods:
• IRB Ranking: 10 (10) (75.39, 14 July 2014).
• The Think-tank:
• Looking Ahead: The Maori All Blacks Asian Tour 2014

Japan Rugby Top League 2014-15

Stage One Round Two

Pool A

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Fri, 29 Aug 2014	Toshiba (2Ts)	23-16	NTT Comm. (2Ts)	19:30	Chichibu, Tokyo
Sat, 30 Aug 2014	Panasonic (7Ts)	47-22	Kubota (3Ts)	16:40	Chichibu, Tokyo
	Toyota Industries (4Ts)	31-14	Sanix (2Ts)	16:40	Toyota, Aichi
Sun, 31 Aug 2014	NEC (1T)	7-55	Yamaha (8Ts)	13:00	Sapporo, Hokkaido

 

Pool B

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Sat, 30 Aug 2014	Canon (5Ts)	33-21	Ricoh (2Ts)	19:00	Chichibu, Tokyo
	Toyota (1T)	10-13	Suntory (1T)	19:00	Toyota, Aichi
	Kobe (2Ts)	26-3	Kintetsu	18:00	Kobe, Hyogo
	Coca-Cola (2Ts)	15-9	NTT Docomo	18:00	Level 5, Fukuoka

Stage One Round One Wrap-up

Pool A

Toshiba Brave Lupus beat NTT Communications Shining Arcs 23-16 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Friday evening. Last Friday, Toshiba enjoyed a convincing win over Panasonic at this same venue and they continued the trend against the Arcs. Toshiba led 13-3 at halftime with halfback Takahiro Ogawa contributing two penalties and the conversion of the penalty try. Ogawa added a third penalty early in the latter half, but the turning point in the game came in the twenty-third minute when five-eighth Toshiaki Hirose touched down for the second try to the Brave Lupus. Ogawa landed the extras to make it 23-6 inside the final quarter of the game, leaving a lot of ground for NTT to catch up. The Shining Arcs fought back with two tries over the closing stages to collect a valuable losing bonus point for their efforts. Ogawa was man of the match for the second week in a row.

On Saturday, in the first game of a double header at Chichibu in Tokyo, defending champions Panasonic Wild Knights beat Kubota Spears 47-22. The Top League titleholders started the new season on the wrong foot with a loss to Toshiba last Friday but hit their straps against Kubota. The Knights scored five first half tries to lead 35-3 at the break and all but have the game wrapped up at that point. Kubota went on to win the second half 19-12, however, all the damage had been done in the first forty minutes with Panasonic taking a comfortable win in the end. The tries were shared around for Panasonic with eventual man of the match, prop Yuki Kawano also picking up a five pointer. The Spears scored three tries in the second period, but fell one short of a bonus point as they suffered their second loss in a row.

Also on Saturday, in the first game of another double header, this time at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi prefecture, Toyota Industries Shuttles defeated Munakata Sanix Blues 31-14. Both these sides were coming off opening round losses but the Shuttles made the most of playing at home to pick up full points in their first win of the new season. Toyota led 14-0 early on, but Sanix came up over the second quarter to narrow the difference to 17-14 by halftime. However, the second half belonged to the home side with a penalty try near the end bringing up the bonus point. Toyota Industries centre Katsuyuki Sakai was the man of the match.

In the only Sunday game in round two, NEC Green Rockets and Yamaha Jubilo travelled to Sapporo in Hokkaido for this encounter. Yamaha had two wins over NEC last season and they well and truly continued the trend in Hokkaido with an emphatic 55-7 victory. In what was the highest score of the round, Yamaha ran in eight tries, six in the second half, to overwhelm the Green Rockets. In a tight first half, both sides scored a try apiece with Jubilo taking a 10-7 lead into halftime. However, the momentum of the game changed completely in the latter half with Yamaha running from everywhere. Centre Siale Piutau crossed for four tries while hooker and man of the match hooker Takeshi Hino bagged two five pointers.

Pool B

In the second game of a double header at Chichibu on Saturday, Canon Eagles beat Ricoh Black Rams 33-21. Both these sides were involved in close losses in the opening round but the Eagles had the better of this encounter outscoring the Black Rams five tries to two. The Eagles and the Rams were in the same pool last year, with the latter winning 25-20 but this time round the tables were turned. Ricoh led 16-7 midway through the first stanza, but Canon stormed back with three tries to lead 26-16 at the break. The scoring slowed down in the second half with defence coming to the fore, but Canon did enough in the first half to collect maximum points from the clash. Flanker Adam Thomson scored a hat trick of tries for Canon, but fullback Kosuke Hashino was man of the match.

In the second game at the Toyota Stadium, Toyota Verblitz hosted Suntory Sungoliath in what amounted to the match of the round with the Sungoliath winning 13-10. In a low-scoring game where both sides only managed one try apiece, the result could have gone either way. Toyota took a slender 10-6 lead into the halftime break, laying the platform for a gripping second half. The turning point in the game came in the fifteenth minute of the latter half when right wing Takaaki Nakazuru touched down to give Suntory the lead for the first time in the match. Centre Tusi Pisi landed the conversion to make it 13-10 and from that point on, neither side could add to the scoreboard with Suntory hanging in long enough to take the victory.

Elsewhere in Pool B, Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers beat Kintetsu Liners 26-3 in Kobe city on Saturday. Both the Steelers and the Liners had opening round wins but Kobe ground out a win for the second week in a row. Kintetsu posted first points in the match with five-eighth Yasumasa Shigemitsu potting a penalty midway through the first half, but after that, it was all Kobe. Five-eighth Kenji Shomen scored the only try of the opening half while centre Hideki Tanabe landed two penalties and a conversion to take the sides to the break with Kobe leading 13-3. Tanabe added a third penalty immediately after the resumption of play with the lead further extended when No8 Itaru Taniguchi scored the second Kobe try in the ninth minute. Replacement centre Ryohei put the icing on the win with a late penalty.

In the final Pool B game of the round, Coca-Cola West Red Sparks made the most of being on home turf to beat NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 15-9 at the Level Five Stadium in Fukuoka city. Coca-Cola were unlucky against Suntory last week, but made up for it this week securing their first win of the season. In a tight first half, three penalties from NTT Docomo fullback Riaan Viljoen gave the Red Hurricanes a 9-8 lead at the break leaving everything to play for in the closing half. A converted try to Coca-Cola No8 and Captain Masakazu Toyota in the thirteenth minute put the Red Sparks in front 15-9, but the result could have been reversed had Viljoen been successful with two penalty attempts.

Pool A

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Yamaha	2	2	0	0	93	16	77	2	0	10
2	Toshiba	2	2	0	0	62	42	20	1	0	9
3	Panasonic	2	1	0	1	73	61	12	1	0	5
4	NTT Comm.	2	1	0	1	41	34	7	0	1	5
5	Toyota Industries	2	1	0	1	40	52	-12	1	0	5
6	NEC	2	1	0	1	31	58	-27	0	0	4
7	Sanix	2	0	0	2	25	56	-31	0	0	0
8	Kubota	2	0	0	2	25	71	-46	0	0	0

            Pool B

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Kobe	2	2	0	0	45	20	25	0	0	8
2	Suntory	2	2	0	0	30	23	7	0	0	8
3	Canon	2	1	0	1	49	44	5	1	1	6
4	Toyota	2	1	0	1	33	29	4	0	1	5
5	Coca-Cola	2	1	0	1	28	26	2	0	1	5
6	Kintetsu	2	1	0	1	24	43	-19	0	0	4
7	NTT Docomo	2	0	0	2	26	36	-10	0	2	2
8	Ricoh	2	0	0	2	38	52	-14	0	1	1

 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 2, Toshiba halfback Takahiro Ogawa tops the point scorers list with 32 points.

	Name	Team	T	G	PG	DG	Pts
1	Takahiro Ogawa	Toshiba	1	6	5	0	32
2	Ayumu Goromaru	Yamaha	0	9	4	0	30
3	Hideki Tanabe	Kobe	0	3	7	0	27
4	Berrick Barnes	Panasonic	0	3	6	0	24
5	Shotaro Onishi	Toyota Ind.	0	4	4	0	20
5	Siale Piutau	Yamaha	4	0	0	0	20
7	Ryohei Mitomo	Canon	0	5	3	0	19
8	Takaya Monji	Toyota	0	3	4	0	18
8	Daniel Peters	Ricoh	0	3	4	0	18
10	Elton Jantjies	NTT Comm.	0	2	4	0	16

 Leading Try Scorers

At the completion Stage 1, Round 2, Yamaha centre Siale Piutau tops the try scorers list with four tries.

	Name	Team	Tries
1	Siale Piutau	Yamaha	4
2	Adam Thomson	Canon	3
3	Takaaki Nakazuru	Suntory	2
3	Itaru Taniguchi	Kobe	2
3	Duke Krishnan	Yamaha	2
3	Katsuyuki Sakai	Toyota Ind.	2
3	Hayato Nishibashi	NTT Comm.	2
3	Takeshi Hino	Yamaha	2
3	Masatoshi Miyazawa	Yamaha	2

 

Stage One, Round Two Man-of-the-match Awards
Date		Teams	Score	Teams	MOTM
Fri 29 Aug 2014	A	Toshiba	23-16	NTT Comm.	Takahiro Ogawa,
					Toshiba No.9
Sat 30 Aug 2014	A	Panasonic	47-22	Kubota	Yuki Kawano,
					Panasonic No.3
	B	Canon	33-21	Ricoh	Kosuke Hashino,
					Canon No.15
	A	Toyota Industries	31-14	Sanix	Katsuyuki Sakai,
					Toy. Ind. No.13
	B	Toyota	10-13	Suntory	Schalk Burger,
					Suntory No.7
	B	Kobe	26-3	Kintetsu	Kenji Shomen,
					Kobe No.10
	B	Coca-Cola	15-9	NTT Docomo	Masakazu Toyota,
					Coca-Cola No.8
Sun 31 Aug 2014	A	NEC	7-55	Yamaha	Takeshi Hino,
					Yamaha No.2

Odds & Sods

Odds & Sods brings the reader weekly news shorts, gossip and general happenings from the world of Rugby in Japan.

Suntory and Japan back rower Hendrik Tui is heading to the Queensland Reds to play in Super Rugby for the first time next year. Tui will be with the Reds from March to August 2015. He will join James O’Connor and Karmichael Hunt as new Reds next season.

From 19 November 2014, the International Rugby Board (IRB) will have a change of name to ‘World Rugby’.

The Japan squad will have a mini-camp from 21-23 September 2014 at the Canon Sports Park.

At Rugby World Cup 2015, Japan will have base camps at Brighton College in Brighton and the Warwick School in Warwick.

 

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Looking Ahead

Looking Ahead gives the reader future dates for the diary and other great things to look forward to in Rugby in Japan.

Japan Internationals for November 2014

Japan v Maori All Blacks
Date: Saturday 01 November 2014
Venue: Noevir Stadium, Kobe
Kick-off: TBC
Referee: TBC

Japan v Maori All Blacks
Date: Saturday 08 November 2014
Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
Kick-off: TBC
Referee: TBC

Romania v Japan
Date: Saturday 15 November 2014
Venue: Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
Kick-off: TBC
Referee: TBC

Georgia v Japan
Date: Sunday 23 November 2014
Venue: TBC
Kick-off: TBC
Referee: TBC

The Maori All Blacks Asian Tour 2014

The Maori All Blacks will tour Japan for two games against Japan XV in November 2014. The first game will be played at the Noevir Stadium Kobe in Hyogo prefecture on Saturday 1 November and the second game at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Saturday 8 November. The Maori All Blacks will then travel to Singapore to play the Asia Pacific Dragons on 15 November at the National Stadium.

General Manager Kensuke Iwabuchi made the following comments, “The New Zealand Maori won the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2008 undefeated and also beat England and Ireland in 2010 and are thus a very formidable opposition. In order for Japan to make the quarterfinals at the IRB Rugby World Cup 2015, these matches are very important.”

Head coach Eddie Jones said, “The New Zealand Maori have won 90% of their past 20 matches and in terms of world rankings would probably come in at about 6 or 7. The Maori have a sterling history and pride and are renowned for throwing the ball around. This will be the perfect preparation for us in our build up to the World Cup next year.”

Commenting on allblacks.com, New Zealand Maori Rugby Board Chairman Wayne Peters said, “We are pleased to go to a country where the profile of rugby is growing and where Rugby World Cup 2019 will be held. Japanese love to see our men in black jerseys so we hope this tour will be a great draw card for fans there.”

In the same article, Maori All Blacks Head Coach Colin Cooper said, “Japan has recently qualified for their eighth straight Rugby World Cup and beat Italy to record their tenth straight win so they will provide top opposition as the team builds for next year’s tournament so we are really looking forward to the challenge.”

Japan Tour to Europe 2014

On 24 July 2014, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced dates fixtures for the Japan tour to Europe in the autumn of 2014. Japan will play two tests on tour with the first against Romania and the latter against Georgia.

In the first test, Japan will play Romania at the Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf in Bucharest on Saturday 15 November 2014. The kick-off time is yet to be determined.

Head-to-head Encounters:

Japan and Romania have met on four occasions dating back to 1995. Japan have won three and Romania one.

The first meeting between Japan and Romania was played when Romania made a two game to Japan in May 1995 in the build up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. In the first game on tour, Romania beat a near full strength Japan Selection side 30-25 at Chichibu in Tokyo on Saturday, 29 April, but then Japan won the test 34-21 on the same ground a few days later on the public holiday of Wednesday, 3 May 1995 for Constitution Memorial Day during the Golden Week period.

The second test between Japan and Romania was during the Japan tour to Europe in 2004. The test was played at the Ghencea II Steua Stadium in Bucharest on Saturday 20 November 2004 with the hosts scoring three tries to one to win 25-10.

The most recent test between the two countries was played during the Super Cup 2005 involving hosts Japan, Canada, Romania and the USA. The Super Cup was a slightly different version of the Super Powers Cup of the previous two years with Japan defeating Romania 23-16 in a night game at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Wednesday, 25 May 2005 while Canada defeated the USA 30-16 to progress to the final to meet Japan. Canada took the Cup when they beat Japan 15-10 in the final.

The highest scoring win for Japan was 34-21 at Chichibu in May 1995, while the biggest winning margin was 13 points in the same test. The longest winning sequence for Japan is one win in 1995 and 2005.

The highest scoring win for Romania was 25-10 in Bucharest in November 2004, while the biggest winning margin was 15 points in the same test. The longest winning sequence for Samoa is one win in 2004.

Two of the three tests have been played in Tokyo, while one test has been played in Bucharest. No tests have been played on neutral territory.

 Official test results for Japan against Romania

No.	Date	Result (Home – Away)	Venue	Tournament	Japan Test No.	W/D/L (For Japan)
4	10 Nov 2012	Romania 23 – Japan 34	Bucharest		281	Won
3	25 May 2005	Japan 23 – Romania 16	National Stadium, Tokyo	Super Cup	204	Won
2	20 Nov 2004	Romania 25 – Japan 10	Bucharest		198	Lost
1	03 May 1995	Japan 34 – Romania 21	Chichibu, Tokyo		125	Won

In the second test, Japan will play Georgia in Georgia at a venue and time yet to be determined on Sunday, 23 November 2014.

Head-to-head Encounters:

Japan and Georgia have met on one occasion dating back to 2006. Japan have won one and Georgia none.

The first meeting between Japan and Georgia was played when Georgia made a two game tour to Japan in May 2006. In the first game on tour, Japan A beat Georgia 15-14 at Nishikyogoku in Kyoto on 10 May, and then Japan won the one-off test 32-7 at the Hanazono ground in Osaka on Sunday, 14 May 2006.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Elissalde was in his fourth test as head coach and NEC flanker Ryota Asano was captain. A number of key players were not released by their French clubs for the tour, and coupled with injuries incurred immediately prior to and during the 2-match tour meant Georgia were struggling to make up the numbers on test match day. The Lelos could only put together a squad of 21 and this included the tour manager who was also forced to strap on his boots to make his test debut.

The test itself was thus a one-sided affair with Japan taking a comfortable five tries to one 32-7 win but this test is memorable for one important reason as in scoring three tries, Japan winger Daisuke Ohata, playing in his hometown overtook the world record for test tries set by David Campese (1982-96) of Australia. What took Campese 101 Tests to score 64 tries took the 30-year-old Ohata 55 tests to score 65 tries to re-write the international record books. The record breaking try came in the sixth minute of injury time against the Georgians, but Ohata would go on to score 69 tries in 58 tests in a record that still stands today. Coach Elissalde declared this ‘Ohata Day’ and after the match Ohata was presented with a commemorative gold Japan jersey along with a cheque for one million yen from the JRFU.

The match day XXII for Japan in the test was:

One- Yuichi Hisadomi (NEC), 2- Yuji Matsubara (Kobe), 3- Ryo Yamamura (Yamaha), 4- Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba), 5- Tsuyoshi Sato (Sanyo), 6- Takashi Kikutani (Toyota), 7- Ryota Asano (c) (NEC), 8- Hajime Kiso (Yamaha), 9- Wataru Ikeda (Sanyo), 10- Eiji Ando (NEC), 11- Kosuke Endo (Toyota), 12- Hideyuki Yoshida (Kubota), 13- Yuta Imamura (Waseda), 14- Daisuke Ohata, 15- Keiji Takei (NEC). Reserves: 16- Takashi Yamaoka (Suntory), 17- Tomokazu Soma (Sanyo), 18- Tomoaki Nakai (Toshiba), 19- Takanori Kumagae (NEC), 20- Mamoru Ito (Toshiba), 21-Shotaro Onishi and 22- Hiroki Mizuno (Toyota).

Official test results for Japan against Georgia

No.	Date	Result (Home – Away)	Venue	Tournament	Japan Test No.	W/D/L (For Japan)
2	17 Nov 2012	Georgia 22 – Japan 25	Tbilisi		282	Won
1	14 May 2006	Japan 32 – Georgia 7	Hanazono, Osaka		211	Won

Into the Future

With the IRB working towards re-introducing traditional long tours there will be spin-offs for Japan in the lead-up to this country hosting the 2019 RWC. Although it is not set in concrete, a bevy of tier one countries are pencilled in to tour Japan with Scotland in 2016, Ireland in 2017 and Italy in 2018.