Japan Rugby Top League 2016-2017 Season: Round 4 Wrap-Up

In the only Friday evening game in round four, Canon Eagles lost 25-20 to Ricoh Black Rams at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo. Canon led 20-8 early in the second half, but the Black Rams rallied with two converted tries and a penalty giving them their second win of the season. Centre Ryohei Mitomo potted two early penalties for the Eagles and then converted the try scored by halfback Toshiki Amano later in the half to help Canon to a 13-8 lead at halftime. This then became 20-8 with flanker Naoto Shimada crossing for the second Ricoh try, as the latter half got under way. At that point, it looked like Canon could be cruising to their second win of the year, but the game took another twist. Fullback Daniel Peters landed his second penalty in the sixth minute before flanker Daiki Yanagawa touched down in the eighteenth minute and No8 Shuhei Matsuhashi scored the match winner in the thirty-fourth minute.

In the first game of a double header at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Saturday 17 September, NEC Green Rockets beat Toyota Industries Shuttles 23-7. Both NEC and Toyota Industries came into round four on the back of three losses apiece, and so the Green Rockets notched up their first win of the season leaving the Shuttles emptyhanded. NEC dominated throughout with playmaker Yu Tamura putting his side on the board first with an early penalty. This was followed by converted tries to lock Yuta Onodera and centre Amanaki Savieti to open up a 17-0 lead. Five-eighth Sam Greene scored a try and converted it himself to close the gap to 17-7 by the break, but the Toyota side was left with a lot of work to do in the second half. As it turned out, the latter period was a low-scoring affair with the only points coming from the boot of Tamura as he closed out the game with two penalties.

In the latter game at Chichibu, Suntory Sungoliath had a barnstorming 45-15 win over defending champions Panasonic Wild Knights. Suntory scored six tries to two to run away with the game and collect maximum points for their impressive efforts. The lead was contained to 24-15 at the hour mark, but the Sungoliath let loose over the final quarter to inflict one of the biggest losses on Panasonic in many a season. The big names stood up for Suntory, with centre Ryoto Nakamura, flanker Hendrik Tui and tight head prop Kensuke Hatakeyama, the eventual man of the match, among the try scorers. This was the second loss in four rounds for the star-studded Wild Knights side who will have to go away and reassess where they are at so early in the season.

Elsewhere on Saturday, NTT Communications Shining Arcs and Kintetsu Liners travelled north to Sendai city in Miyagi prefecture for their round four clash. The Shining Arcs recorded their third win of the year with a grinding 18-3 over the Liners. Kintetsu got their name on the scoreboard first with stalwart Yasumasa Shigemitsu potting a penalty in the third minute, but after that, it was all NTT. Five-eighth Jumpei Ogura kicked two penalties to push the Arcs into a 6-3 lead before centre Takuya Ishibashi scored the first try of the match late in the opening half to help his side to a 13-3 lead at halftime. NTT captain and hooker Takuru Suto scored the only points in the second half with a try in the fourteenth minute.

At the Expo ’70 Commemorative Stadium in Osaka on Saturday, Kubota Spears defeated Honda Heat 18-15. In a tight first half, the scores were locked at 5-all at the break and then 8-all midway through the second stanza. The turning point came in the twenty-fifth minute of the second half when right wing Yuji Ito dotted down for the second Kubota try with Louis Fouche on hand to add the extras and stretch the lead to 15-8. Fouche knocked over a penalty inside the final ten minutes, but wing Lemeki Lomano crossed for a late try to give Honda a losing bonus point. Kubota now have two wins from four outings, but the Heat are still looking for their first win of the year.

In another one of the big games this weekend, Yamaha Jubilo hosted Toshiba Brave Lupus at their Yamaha Stadium in Shizuoka prefecture. In a battle between two of the four unbeaten sides so far this season, the Jubilo gained as much home ground advantage as they could get with a commanding 40-6 over the Brave Lupus. Yamaha are in sparkling form early in the season, and although it is early days yet, they are shaping as the team to beat. Yamaha scored six unanswered tries, three in either half, as they put Toshiba to the sword. Halfback Yuki Yatomi crossed the Toshiba whitewash three times for a hat trick of tries that saw him named the man of the match.

In yet a further top-shelf game in round four, Toyota Verblitz faced Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers at the Paloma Mizuho Rugby Ground in Nagoya with the latter winning 27-7. Kobe inflicted the first loss of the season on Toyota with this four tries to one win giving the Steelers maximum points from the match. Kobe needed to make a statement with a good win at Mizuho and they did just that to stay near the top of the table. The Steelers led 17-0 at halftime that then became 27-0 early in the second half to push the game beyond the reach of the Verblitz. Centre Ryohei Yamanaka and speedy wing Rakuhei Yamashita were among the try scorers with Yamanaka the man of the match.

In the final game of round four, Coca-Cola Red Sparks lost 19-16 to Munakata Sanix Blues in the ‘Kyushu derby’ at the Level-5 Stadium in Fukuoka. It has not been a good start to the season for Coca-Cola with four straight loses, but for Sanix it is an impressive three wins from four starts. There was little to separate these two Kyushu sides throughout the match with Sanix making the most of their opportunities early in the second half to get out to a 19-11 lead. The Red Sparks fought back over the closing stages, but they fell short at the final hurdle. They had the chance to snatch a draw at the death, but a penalty kick from centre Timothy Lafaele failed to raise the flags leaving Sanix with the win.