Yamaha Run in 11 Tries Past Canon

OITA, Japan (Sept. 24) – Yamaha Jubilo recorded their fourth win of the Japan Rugby Top League season Sunday as they remained second in the White Conference with 20 points, five behind Panasonic Wild Knights.

Katusyuki Kiyomiya’s side ran in 11 tries to down Canon Eagles 69-21 in front of 18,279 at Oita Bank Dome, leaving the Eagles bottom of the conference with just one point to their name.

This season the league has been split into two conferences, Red and White.

Teams play the seven other sides in their conference plus six from the other group to determine the rankings for the end of season playoffs, with the top four sides competing for the league title, which doubles as the All-Japan Championship.

Man-of-the-match Viliami Tahitua grabbed a brace of tries as did Gerhard van den Heever and there were further five pointers for Kyosuke Horie, Takeshi Hino, Uwe Hele, Matt McGahan, Eishin Kuwano, Keita Kato and Male Sa’u, with Ayumu Goromaru adding seven conversions.

Richard Arthur Havili, Naoto Shimada and Hosea Saumaki touched down for the Eagles with Yu Tamura converting all three efforts.

In the day’s other game at Expo ’70 Commemorative Stadium in Osaka, NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes beat Kintetsu Liners 31-21 to pick up their third straight win and move into fifth spot in the Red Conference with 12 points, four more than seventh-placed Kintetsu.

The big boot of NTT Docomo captain Riaan Viljoen proved to be the difference between the two sides, the South African banging over four penalties and two conversions.