Teikyo win 6th straight university title

TOKYO (Jan. 10) – Teikyo University continued their dominance of Japanese student rugby on Saturday as they won the 51st University Championship.

Masayuki Iwade’s side picked up their sixth straight collegiate title beating University of Tsukuba 50-7 in front of a crowd of 12,107 at Ajinomoto Stadium thanks to a tremendous display of 15-man rugby.

The scoreboard will tell that all seven of the Teikyo tries were scored by backs, but it was the platform laid down by the forwards that created the win.

Time and time again Tsukuba were forced off the ball at the breakdown and the reigning champions used the turnovers to good effect.

Yasunari Isoda grabbed a hat-trick of five-pointers and the flying wing was joined on the scoresheet by captain Yutaka Nagare, Keisuke Moriya, Seiya Ozaki and Issei Shige, with Rikiya Matsuda kicking six conversions and a penalty from eight attempts at goal.

Japan international Kenki Fukuoka touched down early in the second half for Tsukuba with Hajime Yamashita adding the extras, but the scores proved to be nothing more than consolation efforts.

Both sides will next play in the season-ending All-Japan Championship along with the two beaten semifinalists, Keio and Tokai, the top four finishers in the Top League and two teams via the TL wild card tournament.