Panasonic, Kobe, Toshiba, Yamaha reach LIXIL Cup semifinals

YOKOHAMA (Jan. 9) – Panasonic Wild Knights will play Kobe Kobelco Steelers and Toshiba Brave Lupus will take on Yamaha Jubilo for a spot in the LIXIL Cup final following the first round of the Japan Rugby Top League 2015-16 playoffs on Saturday.

Two time defending champions Panasonic earned their spot by beating Canon Eagles 46-6.

Wing Kentaro Kodama crossed for a brace, Naoki Kawamata and Daniel Heenan also touched down and man—of-the-match Hayden Parker added four conversions and six penalties from as many attempts as the Wild Knights stayed on course for their eighth final appearance in the last nine years.

Kobe Steel ran in seven tries to beat Kintetsu Liners 42-10.

Yoshikazu Ohashi grabbed two and there were five-pointers for Naoya Minamihashi, Kentaro Nagasaki, Shohei Maekawa, Andries Bekker and Craig Wing, with Kenji Shomen adding two conversions and a drop goal.

The games in the other half of the bracket were closer.

Yamaha got past NTT Communications Shining Arcs 26-7 thanks to two tries from Kyosuke Horie, one from Male Sa’u and a penalty try with Ayumu Goromaru converting three of them.

Toshiba also benefited from a penalty try as they beat Toyota Verblitz 29-17, with further tries coming from Toshiaki Hirose, Keisuke Masuda and Shuhei Oshima. Francois Steyn kicked three conversions and a penalty goal.

Meanwhile, in the first round of the playoffs to determine 9th to 16th in the league, Suntory Sungoliath topped Coca-Cola Red Sparks 52-7, Toyota Industries Shuttles beat Ricoh Black Rams 27-17, Honda Heat got past NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 23-20 and Kubota Spears defeated NEC Green Rockets 30-20.

The winners automatically keep their places in the league next season while the losers will play the top four sides from the regional leagues in one-off promotion-relegation playoff games, once the final standings are determined.