RiJ: Vol.11 No.36, 09 September 2014
RiJ looks at the third 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 Three - Odds & Sods
Japan Rugby Top League 2014-15
Stage One Round Three
Pool A
| Date | Team | Score | Team | K/O | Venue |
| Sat, 06 Sep 2014 | NTT Comm. (4Ts) | 30-6 | Toyota Industries | 16:40 | Chichibu, Tokyo |
|
| Toshiba (2Ts) | 18-23 | Kubota (2Ts) | 19:00 | Chichibu, Tokyo |
|
| Sanix (5Ts) | 36-31 | NEC (5Ts) | 16:40 | Level 5, Fukuoka |
|
| Yamaha | 9-14 | Panasonic (1T) | 18:00 | Iwata, Shizuoka |
Pool B
| Date | Team | Score | Team | K/O | Venue |
| Fri, 05 Sep 2014 | Suntory (2Ts) | 20-17 | Canon (2Ts) | 19:30 | Chichibu, Tokyo |
| Sat, 06 Sep 2014 | Kintetsu (3Ts) | 28-23 | Ricoh (2Ts) | 16:40 | Kincho, Osaka |
|
| NTT Docomo (3Ts) | 19-31 | Toyota (4Ts) | 19:00 | Kincho, Osaka |
|
| Coca-Cola | 0-31 | Kobe (5Ts) | 19:00 | Level 5, Fukuoka |
Stage One Round Three Wrap-up
Pool A
On Saturday, in the first game of a double header at Chichibu in Tokyo, NTT Communications Shining Arcs beat Toyota Industries Shuttles 30-6. NTT Comm. collected their second win in three games with a bonus point to boot. The Shining Arcs led 18-6 at halftime and then set about strangling the Shuttles out of the game in the second half. Halfback and man of the match, Hayato Nishibashi scored the first of the tries in the tenth minute of play while five-eighth Elton Jantjies kept the scoreboard ticking over with two conversions and two penalties in the opening half. South Korean international Bin Jegal seized the vital fourth try late in the game to complete the win for NTT.
In the second game at Chichibu, Toshiba Brave Lupus lost to Kubota Spears 23-18. In the shock result of the round, the Spears did enough to hang in there and beat the Brave Lupus for the first time in eleven years. It was a full eighty-minute effort from Kubota who trailed 15-13 early in the second half before centre Aisea Toeava put the Spears in front with a try in the thirteenth minute. Five-eighth Harumichi Tatekawa landed the conversion and potted a crucial penalty in the thirty-second minute to push out the margin to 23-15, meaning Toshiba had to score twice for the win. Toshiba hammered away at the Kubota goal line without result and had to settle for a late penalty to salvage a losing bonus point.
Munakata Sanix Blues were at home in Fukuoka city on Saturday where they took on NEC Green Rockets in the early game of a double header at the Level Five Stadium. In a high scoring game where both sides scored five tries apiece, Sanix eventually came out on top to the tune of 36-31. The Blues had failed to pick up any competition points in their first two games, however, all that changed on Saturday with the hosts collecting maximum points. NEC led 19-10 late in the first half, but Sanix piled on three tries either side of the break to get out to a 29-19 lead by the ten-minute mark in the latter half. The tries kept coming as the half progressed with two more tries for the Green Rockets ensuring two bonus points for their efforts. Flanker Jacques Potgieter and fullback Benjamin Ray Yagi both picked up doubles for the Blues.
In what had match-of-the-round billing, Yamaha Jubilo hosted defending champions Panasonic Wild Knights at the Yamaha Stadium in Shizuoka prefecture. In a low scoring game in which Panasonic centre Seiichi Shimomura scored the only five pointer, the Wild Knights scrapped home 14-9. Berrick Barnes kicked two first half penalties while Tadahiro Miwa kicked one in the second half to help secure the win. Jubilo fullback Ayumu Goromaru kicked three penalties to score all the points for the hosts. Panasonic led 11-6 at halftime with the only scores in the second half a penalty apiece. It was the first defeat for Yamaha this season, while Panasonic stepped up for the win after they lost to Toshiba in the opening game of the season. The psychological advantage stays with the Knights after the win.
Pool B
On Friday evening at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo, Suntory Sungoliath beat Canon Eagles 20-17. The Sungoliath have been doing it tough over the opening rounds of the season and had to come from behind to beat the Eagles in this tough encounter. Suntory led 13-10 at the halftime break, but a converted try to flanker Adam Thomson in the fourth minute of the latter half put the Eagles in front 17-13. The score remained unchanged until the 32nd minute when man of the match in Schalk Burger crossed the Canon whitewash to put the Sungoliath back in the lead. Five-eighth Tusi Pisi added the extras to stretch the lead to 20-17 and from there neither side could add to the scoreboard. Burger is making his mark in his first season playing in Japan as he was also named man of the match the previous week against Toyota.
At the Kincho Stadium in Osaka on Saturday, Kintetsu Liners played and beat Ricoh Black Rams 28-23 in the early game of a double header. The Liners made it two wins from three starts with this hard-fought win over a persistent Black Rams side. Kintetsu held a 16-13 lead at halftime but fullback Daniel Peters scored early in the second half and then converted his own try to put Ricoh in front 20-16. However, Kintetsu crossed for two converted tries as the half progressed and the best Ricoh could manage was a losing bonus point after Peters landed a late penalty. The Rams have not being playing bad rugby but have suffered losses to Kobe, Canon and now Kintetsu in their first three games.
In the second game in Osaka, NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes went down to Toyota Verblitz 31-19. Toyota out-scored their opponents four tries to three, but had to work hard for their bonus-point victory. In a highly competitive opening stanza, Toyota were lucky to take a 21-19 lead into the break after centre Steven Yates touched down on the stroke of halftime. In the latter half, Toyota kept the Red Hurricanes scoreless, while the Verblitz gradually widened the margin on the scoreboard with a converted try to wing Kaoru Matsushita in the ninth minute and a penalty to five-eighth Takaya Monji on the hour. Meanwhile, Yates walked away with the man-of-the-match award.
In the second game at the Level Five Stadium in Fukuoka, Coca-Cola West Red Sparks were on home turf to face Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers but went down heavily to the tune of 31-0. Kobe have been one of the most consistent sides over the past few seasons and they raised their game another notch this match in an effort to collect some long-awaited silverware at the business end of the season. The Red Sparks kept the Steelers honest in the first forty minutes with hooker Takeshi Kizu scoring the only points in the half as Kobe took a meagre 5-0 lead into the break. The score remained unchanged right up to the hour mark, before the game well and truly opened up over the final quarter of proceedings. Kizu helped to open the floodgates with his second try in the twenty-forth minute, followed by three more team five pointers as the Steelers ran away with the result.
Pool A
|
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | BP1 | BP2 | Pts |
| 1 | Yamaha | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 100 | 30 | 70 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 2 | NTT Comm. | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 40 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Toshiba | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 80 | 65 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Panasonic | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 87 | 70 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 | NEC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 62 | 94 | -32 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Sanix | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 61 | 87 | -26 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 | Toyota Industries | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 46 | 82 | -36 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Kubota | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 89 | -41 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Pool B
|
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | BP1 | BP2 | Pts |
| 1 | Kobe | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 20 | 56 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| 2 | Suntory | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 3 | Toyota | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 64 | 48 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Kintetsu | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 52 | 66 | -14 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 5 | Canon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 64 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Coca-Cola | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 57 | -29 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | Ricoh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 80 | -19 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | NTT Docomo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 45 | 67 | -22 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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 3, Toshiba halfback Takahiro Ogawa tops the point scorers list with 40 points.
|
| Name | Team | T | G | PG | DG | Pts |
| 1 | Takahiro Ogawa | Toshiba | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 40 |
| 2 | Ayumu Goromaru | Yamaha | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 39 |
| 3 | Daniel Peters | Ricoh | 1 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 36 |
| 4 | Berrick Barnes | Panasonic | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 30 |
| 5 | Takaya Monji | Toyota | 0 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 29 |
| 6 | Hideki Tanabe | Kobe | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 27 |
| 7 | Ryohei Mitomo | Canon | 0 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 26 |
| 8 | Elton Jantjies | NTT Comm. | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 24 |
| 9 | Yasumasa Shigemitsu | Kintetsu | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 24 |
| 10 | Harumichi Tatekawa | Kubota | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 23 |
Leading Try Scorers
At the completion Stage 1, Round 3, Yamaha centre Siale Piutau and Canon back rower Adam Thomson top the try scorers list with four tries.
|
| Name | Team | Tries |
| 1 | Siale Piutau | Yamaha | 4 |
| 1 | Adam Thomson | Canon | 4 |
| 3 | Hayato Nishibashi | NTT Comm. | 3 |
| 4 | Takaaki Nakazuru | Suntory | 2 |
| 4 | Itaru Taniguchi | Kobe | 2 |
| 4 | Duke Krishnan | Yamaha | 2 |
| 4 | Katsuyuki Sakai | Toyota Ind. | 2 |
| 4 | Takeshi Hino | Yamaha | 2 |
| 4 | Masatoshi Miyazawa | Yamaha | 2 |
Stage One, Round Three Man-of-the-match Awards
| Group | Teams | Score | Teams | MOTM | |
| Fri 05 Sep 2014 | B | Suntory | 20-17 | Canon | Schalk Burger, |
| Suntory No.8 | |||||
| Sat 06 Sep 2014 | A | NTT Comm. | 30-Jun | Toyota Industries | Hayato Nishibashi, |
| NTT Comm. No.9 | |||||
| A | Toshiba | 18-23 | Kubota | Harumichi Tatekawa, | |
| Kubota No.12 | |||||
| B | Kintetsu | 28-23 | Ricoh | Toetu’u Taufa, | |
| Kintetsu No.7 | |||||
| B | NTT Docomo | 19-31 | Toyota | Steven Yates, | |
| Toyota No.13 | |||||
| A | Sanix | 36-31 | NEC | Benjamin Ray Yagi, | |
| Sanix No.15 | |||||
| B | Coca-Cola | 0-31 | Kobe | Takeshi Kizu, | |
| Kobe No.2 | |||||
| A | Yamaha | Sep-14 | Panasonic | Tadasuke Nishihara, | |
| Panasonic No.7 |
Odds & Sods
Odds & Sods brings the reader weekly news shorts, gossip and general happenings from the world of Rugby in Japan.
The Japan Sevens side is in Malaysia this weekend, 6-7 September, for the second round of the ARFU Sevens Series 2014. Under head coach Tomohiro Segawa and captain Katsuyuki Sakai (Toyota Industries), the side is expected to do well. Hong Kong, who beat South Korea in the final of the first leg in Hong Kong, are the teams to beat.
One of the changes to Top League for the 2014-15 season is the introduction of the Television Match Official (TMO) for all games, including the Play-offs and Wildcard at the send of the season. The TMO will also be used in the National Championship.
The end-of-season play-off tournament has a naming sponsor this season and will be known as the LIXIL Cup 2015.
If you have not noticed, New Zealand referee Garratt Williamson is in Japan. He will officiate in games over the first three rounds of Top League.
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.
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