Toshiba hold to beat NEC for 3rd win of season

TOKYO (Sept. 12) – Toshiba Brave Lupus beat NEC Green Rockets 30-26 on Friday night to win the Minato-ku derby and go top of Pool A in the Japan Rugby Top League.

The headquarters of the two companies are based in the same Tokyo ward and it was Toshiba captain Shuhei Oshima, who was handed the glass trophy at the final whistle following a traditional touch encounter between the two sides at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.

The victory was Toshiba’s third of the season against one loss, and puts them on 15 points, while NEC have seven points from one win and three defeats. The other six Pool A sides and all eight Pool B sides play later on this weekend.

Shohei Toyoshima bagged a brace of tries for Toshiba, with Daisuke Natsui and Richard Kahui also crossing the whitewash and Takahiro Ogawa knocking over two conversions and two penalty goals.

NEC points came from a tries by Neil Brew and Nemani Nadolo, four penalties and a conversion from Yu Tamura and a conversion from Nadolo.

NEC captain Sunao Takizawa said the difference between the two sides had come in the forwards with Toshiba’s international-laden pack providing a good base at the set-piece and proving to be too aggressive at the breakdown.

However, he praised the effort of his team, for recovering from a poor start that saw them trail 18-0 with 27 minutes on the clock.

Toshiba coach Teppei Tomioka, meanwhile, singled out Japan captain Michael Leitch for praise.

“Michael played really well,” he said. “He said before the game he was going to take the ball forward and that’s what he did, and that’s not an easy thing to do. That is the standard all Japanese players should aspire to.”