Red Hurricanes, Verblitz pick up wins

  NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes  29 v  7  Kyushu Power Electric Kyuden Voltex 
 
    Toyota Verblitz  21 v 18  Toyota Shokki Shuttles 
 
TOKYO (Sep 01) The opening weekend of the 2013-14 Japan Rugby Top League season ended with wins for Toyota Verblitz and NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.

In the opening game of the doubleheader at Toyota Stadium, the Red Hurricanes’ victory owed much to two of their offseason signings.

Former Sharks back Riaan Viljoen scored a try and two conversions and Fiji international Sireli Bobo weighed in with a five-pointer as the Red Hurricanes recorded a bonus-point win.

Docomo’s other points came from tries by Takeshi Nakaya, Takehiro Kiyose and Takeshi Hirase, while Kyuden got on the board through a try by Wataru Obara, converted by Genki Saito.

The second game was a much closer affair that was finally decided after the final hooter when Yusuke Kuromiya held his nerve to slot over a penalty.

The Shuttles had led at the break 8-6 thanks to a try by Rikiya Asami  and a penalty from Mark Gerrard against two penalties from Cameron McIntyre.

Asami’s second try in the 60th minute and a further penalty and conversion from Gerrard saw them lead 18-6 with seven minutes remaining. But Verblitz hit back with tries by Tomoharu Kawanishi and Taumoepeau Silivenusi and Kuromiya’s boot did the rest as he added a conversion and penalty to hand Verblitz the points.