31 January,2015
Suntory, NEC book ticket to All-Japan Championship
OSAKA (Jan. 31) Suntory Sungoliath and NEC Green Rockets will take part in the All-Japan Championship after both sides won Saturday in the wild card tournament.
Suntory topped Ricoh Black Rams 42-14 and NEC beat NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 33-10 in the competition that saw the sides finishing fifth to 12th in the Japan Rugby Top League play off for two places in the season-ending tournament.
Tusi Pisi scored three tries and six conversions from as many attempts as Suntory – the only side from Group A in the last four – proved too strong for Ricoh.
Earlier in the first game of the doubleheader at Hanazono Stadium, NEC scored five tries through Yosuke Usui, Yu Tamura, Yosuke Morita, Neil Brew and Takahiro Doi to ensure their season would last at least one more game.
Sungoliath will play University of Tsukuba, runners-up in the collegiate competition, while NEC take on university champions Teikyo in the first round of the cup competition.
The other first-round ties – to be played Feb. 8 — see Toshiba Brave Lupus play Tokai University and Kobe Kobelco Steelers take on Keio University.
Panasonic Wild Knights and Yamaha Jubilo – who play each other for the Top League crown on Sunday – join the season-ending competition at the semifinal stage.