Yamaha make history
TOKYO (Feb. 22) – Yamaha Jubilo, playing in their first-ever Championship final, ground out a gutsy 15-3 win over six-time champions Suntory Sungoliath in the decider of the 52nd National Championship 2015 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Saturday.
Yamaha brought the curtain down on the domestic season for another year as the Shizuoka prefecture-based Jubilo claimed their first piece of serious silverware with the national title.
“That was our best game all season.” An impressed Yamaha head coach Katsuyuki Kiyomiya said after the dust had settled. He went on to say that his players fronted up and played aggressively, especially in the first half and that was what got them the win.
Yamaha played their second final in a month after losing the Lixil Cup final to Panasonic Wild Knights earlier in the month and this time round there was no denying the Jubilo their glory.
All the scoring was done in the first forty minutes with centre Male Sau scoring the first try in the seventh minute and wing Shinji Nakazono the only other five pointer in the twenty-sixth minute. Fullback Ayumu Goromaru also contributed with a conversion and a penalty in the thirteenth minute while for Suntory, fly half Tusi Pisi scored their only points with a penalty in the twentieth minute.
Defence, determination and calm heads win big games and Yamaha showed their more fancied rivals how to do it. “We knew that to win, defence would be seventy percent of the effort.” Said winning captain Yuhimaru Mimura, and that is how things worked out.
The lion’s share of possession and territory was with Yamaha throughout the match meaning Suntory were left living off scraps when they could get them. The Sungoliath played the majority of the game at the wrong end of the park and this did not suit their style of rugby.
Suntory just could not take a trick and a high penalty count against kept them on the back foot. “We tried to attack, but our own errors and the strong defence denied us any shape.” A disappointed Suntory coach Naoya Okubo said. He went on to say “This was an unfortunate result, but over the 80 minutes the Yamaha defence was outstanding.”
For all intents and purposes, Suntory played their final against Panasonic in the semi-final and with week in week out rugby taking its toll, the Sungoliath looked tired. Clearly though, Yamaha were the hungrier and more efficient side and their historic win was well deserved.
It was a really tough game,” said Suntory coach Naoyo Okubo. “Panasonic took the Top League and they are a team we hate to face. “We needed to attack and out of that we got some tries so I’m happy. Everyone pulled together and hopefully we’ll be able to carry it forward one more time.”