Ricoh holds off Canon

TOKYO (Sept. 13) – Ricoh Black Rams picked up their first win of the 2013-14 Japan Rugby Top League season with a 25-20 victory over Canon Eagles on Friday night.

Played in front a good and noisy crowd of 9.874 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, the Black Rams backed up a good defensive effort with two second-half tries by Masahiro Noguchi and Shori Hoshino. Takuya Takahira added three penalties, Dan Peters kicked one and Riki Flutey knocked over a drop goal as Ricoh made it one win, one loss and a draw for 8 points in Pool B.

Canon responded with two tries by Tokiro Harada and Aston Crawford with Ryohei Mitomo adding two penalties and two conversions. The Eagles have six points from one win and two losses.

The game was evenly poised at halftime with the sides level at 3-3, thanks mainly to the Ricoh defence, which held firm under some good expansive rugby from Canon.

The Black Rams took the led 14 minutes after the break when Takahira slotted over his second penalty before Ricoh struck twice in the space of seven minutes as their forwards started to turn on the power and enable their backs to create overlaps.

Mitomo and Flutey then traded kicks before Harada’s five-pointer saw Canon pull back to 22-15 with six minutes left on the clock.

Peters’ penalty, however, meant the Eagles needed to score twice and although Crawford’s try saw them pick up a bonus point for losing by seven or less points, it was a case of too little too late.

“We made some bad decisions at crucial times,” said Canon head coach Andy Friend. “I though our forwards stood up well but our backs let us down.”

Former Australia great Stephen Larkham, who is a consultant advisor to the Black Rams, praised the spirit of his players.

“Canon fatigued just before halftime and that spell of seven minutes pretty much won it for us. Things got difficult with the two yellow cards at the end, but I thought we defended really well,” he said.

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