Kobe Finish 5th following Win over Toshiba

TOKYO (Jan. 14) – The 2017-18 Japan Rugby Top League season drew to a close Sunday with the final standings determined for the 16 teams.

The domestic season will officially end next weekend with three relegation/promotion games featuring the teams that finished 13th to 15th in the Top League and the second to fourth-placed finishers in the Top Challenge League.

Th 16th-placed team in the league, Kintetsu Liners, are automatically relegated and replaced by Honda Heat, winners of the 2017-18 Top Challenge League.

The day after Suntory Sungoliath claimed their fifth Top League title and eighth All-Japan Championship crown, there were four games played in Tokyo and Nagoya.

At Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Rugby World Cup 2011 winner Andy Ellis scored a try and created another in the first half and Kenji Shomen picked up a brace in the second as Kobe Kobelco Steelers finished fifth by beating Toshiba Brave Lupus 41-17 in front of a crowd of 6,260.

Earlier in the nation’s capital, Colin Bourke bagged a hat-trick and set up another as Ricoh Black Rams downed NEC Green Rockets 44-20 to take seventh place.

NTT Communications Shining Arcs survived a second-half comeback from Canon Eagles to take ninth place thanks to a 38-32 win at Paloma Mizuho Rugby Field.

Jumpei Ogura scored a try, five conversions and a penalty goal, while Ed Quirk and Hosea Saumaki warmed up for the Sunwolves’ Super Rugby season with tries for Canon.

In the first game of the doubleheader in Nagoya, Hiroaki Sugimoto bagged a brace of five-pointers as Kubota Spears topped Toyota Industries Shuttles 31-10 to finish the season in 11th spot.