Meiji Victorious in Epic Japan University Rugby Championship Final

Meiji University secured their 14^th All-Japan University Rugby Championship following their 22-10 victory over Waseda University at MUFG Stadium, Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday. The clash between Japan’s two most successful university sides drew a crowd of just over 43,000, with the passionate and boisterous fans enjoying an epic game of rugby in the Tokyo winter sunshine.

The dry conditions made for a highly skilled contest with both teams playing sensationally fast attacking rugby. As Brave Blossoms Head Coach Eddie Jones watched on from the stands, the two sides played a brand of rugby closely matching Jones’ vision of chosoku, or super-fast rugby.

Both sides came into the match in strong form, having progressed through the earlier stages of the competition relatively comfortably. While Meiji and Waseda both fielded excellent backlines, Meiji arguably had the advantage in the forwards, with their heavier pack stamping their authority at both scrum time and in the tight.

Waseda’s star fullback, the nine-capped Brave Blossom, Yoshitaki Yazaki was a standout for his side and never stopped trying all day. The only blemish to his copybook was a first half yellow card for illegal contact in the air that was more clumsy than reckless.

However, it was the combined performances of the two opposing flyhalves that set the tone for the afternoon. Both tens led their backlines decisively and with a sense of calm and assuredness one might expect more from seasoned pros than young players still in university.

Not only did they unleash their backlines with aplomb, they also brought moments of individual brilliance with their jinking runs, deft kicking and solid defence. Meiji flyhalf Ryunosuke Ito probably put his nose in front of his opposite number by scoring his team’s second try of the match, seven minutes before halftime.

Meiji’s first try followed a period of sustained pressure on the Waseda tryline, with their forwards keeping it in tight while hammering away at the line. The ball was released momentarily out to the backs, before coming back in tight again and into the hands of Meiji’s loosehead, Daisuke Tashiro. The young prop took the ball at pace, bursting through the line and dotting down under the posts. His acrobatic, one-handed, diving summersault touchdown was spectacular and captured the youthful sprit of the occasion.

Going into the second half with a 14-3 lead, Meiji continued to add scoreboard pressure with a sensational try off the back of a stolen Waseda lineout. Having picked off the throw, Meiji launched a barnstorming attacking raid as good as you will likely see. After going through numerous sets of hands, with the play zigzagging down the field, the ball finally made it across to the left wing and into the hands of Meiji’s openside flanker, Kotaro Okawa.

While the ticket price was worth that try alone, Waseda scored their own wonder-try deep in the second half. Off the back of an attacking scrum, Waseda launched a brilliant set play. Sending the ball out wide to the right and looping around a dummy runner, the ball went blitzing down the righthand touchline. It then came back inside before reaching its seventh pair of hands, with replacement scrumhalf Kouki Watanbe barrelling over the line to score.

While Meiji outscored Waseda, three tries to one, the final score didn’t necessarily paint a fair picture of the losing side’s performance. Waseda were well in the match for the full 80 minutes and looked destined to draw closer to Meiji at multiple points of the match, however it wasn’t to be. With the clock running out, they left their run too little, too late, leaving Meiji with an unassailable lead.

When the final siren sounded, the purple and white hooped men of Meiji thrust their hands in the air while the maroon and black hooped Waseda men were left to ponder what might have been. While clearly disappointed, the Waseda players were gallant in defeat, warmly congratulating the victors in the true Japanese spirit of No-Side.