RUGBY IN JAPAN VOL.11, No.41

14 October 2014

CONTENTS

• Top League 2014-15: Stage 1, Round 6
• Gold Coast Sevens
• Odds and Sods

RiJ brings the reader Top League news after a break of two weeks. Japan were also in action on the Gold Coast but were quickly found out playing with the big boys. It is one thing getting onto the main Sevens circuit but it is another thing staying there.

Enjoy the read.

Japan Rugby Top League 2014-15

Pool A

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Sat, 11 Oct 2014	Kubota (4Ts)	24-29	Toyota Industries (2Ts)	14:05	Morioka, Iwate
	NEC (3Ts)	21-44	Panasonic (5Ts)	13:00	Kashiwa, Chiba
Sun, 12 Oct 2014	Sanix (3Ts)	21-59	Toshiba (9Ts)	14:05	Hiroshima, Hiroshima
	NTT Comm. (4Ts)	29-26	Yamaha (4Ts)	13:00	Toyama, Toyama

Pool B

Date	Team	Score	Team	K/O	Venue
Sat, 11 Oct 2014	Ricoh (5Ts)	31-24	NTT Docomo (4Ts)	12:00	Morioka, Iwate
	Kobe (3Ts)	24-24	Toyota (3Ts)	12:00	Hanazono, Osaka
	Kintetsu (4Ts)	30-31	Suntory (4Ts)	14:05	Hanazono, Osaka
Sun, 12 Oct 2014	Canon (6Ts)	44-20	Coca-Cola (2Ts)	13:00	Oita, Oita

Stage One Round Six Wrap-up

Pool A

On Saturday, in the second game of a double header in Morioka, Iwate, Kubota Spears played Toyota Industries Shuttles and in something of an upset, the Shuttles came out on top 29-24. Coming into this game, Kubota sat mid table while Toyota languished near the bottom and after beating Toshiba and drawing with Yamaha, the Spears were tipped for a good win. That was not to be and in spite of scoring four tries to two Kubota still could not produce a win. Shotaro Onishi and Mark Gerrard kicked five penalties between them and that got the Shuttles across the line. There was very little in the first half, but after the break, the Shuttles piled on 17 points to get out to a 23-7 lead. Kubota charged back over the final quarter but the deficit was too great allowing the Toyota side to pick up their second win of the season.

In Kashiwa city in Chiba prefecture on Saturday, NEC Green Rockets were at home to host Panasonic Wild Knights, but that was not enough to prevent the Knights winning 44-21. NEC have now lost five on the trot and were shown no mercy by the Knights who picked up another four-try bonus point win to keep their season moving in the right direction. Panasonic led 24-0 after the first half hour of play making it all but impossible for NEC to fight their way back into the game. To make matters worse, the Knights stretched the lead to 27-7 by halftime and then 34-7 early in the second half. Panasonic scored five tries with Berrick Barnes touching down once while also contributing fifteen points with the boot.

In Hiroshima city on Sunday, Munakata Sanix Blues encountered table-topping Toshiba Brave Lupus with Toshiba taking the honours 59-21. The Brave Lupus outscored their opponents nine tries to three with veteran wing Hiroki Yoshida bagging four of the five pointers. Toshiba scored five tries in the first half to lead 31-0 at the break, which in turn became 38-0 not long into the second half. From that point on, the best the Blues could hope for was a four-try bonus point and although they set about this task in good fashion, in the end they fell one try short. The win keeps Toshiba one point clear of Panasonic on top of the Pool A table with one round left to play in Stage One.

In Toyama city in the prefecture of the same name, NTT Communications Shining Arcs and Yamaha Jubilo went head to head with NTT causing an upset with a 29-26 win. Both sides scored four tries apiece ensuring the Arcs maximum points while Jubilo went home with two bonus points. At the completion of an open first half, Yamaha led 21-15 and seemed to be in control of proceedings. Centre Male Sau scored the fourth try for Yamaha early in the latter half to increase the lead to 26-15 leaving a lot of work to do for the Shining Arcs. Nevertheless, the NTT side buckled up and fought their way back with converted tries to Kosuke Yamashita in the seventh minute followed by the decisive score to lock Daisuke Kurihara in the twenty-seventh minute. Neither side could add to the scoreboard over the final ten minutes with NTT hanging on for the win. 

Pool B

On Saturday, in the first game of a double header in Morioka, Iwate, Ricoh Black Rams beat NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 31-24. Ricoh made it two wins in a row against the bottom-ranked NTT side after losing the first four games of the season. There was little scoring activity in the opening stanza, but things opened up in the second half with the two sides running in seven tries between them. The Rams got out to a 19-5 lead early in the second period and from that point on were always in control. The Red Hurricanes kept coming back though, with two late tries ensuring two bonus points. Lock Lotoahea Pohiva scored two of the Ricoh tries and was named man of the match.

In the first game of another double header on Saturday, Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers and Toyota Verblitz played out a 24-all draw at the Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Ground in Osaka. This clash amounted to the match of the round with the unbeaten Steelers taking on fourth placed Toyota. Toyota took a 14-3 lead into the halftime break after wing Kaoru Matsushita and fullback Yoshizumi Takeda scored first half tries. However, Kobe chipped away at the difference in the second half, getting in front for the first time when wing Rakuhei Yamashita touched down in the twelfth minute. This then became 24-14 inside the final quarter with the Steelers seemingly on top. Nevertheless, the Verblitz fought back with a converted try to prop Kazuto Sato and a penalty to Takaya Monji levelling the scores. Over the remainder of the game, neither side could break the deadlock with the result ending in a draw.

In the other game at Hanazono, Kintetsu Liners threw down the gauntlet to the fancied Suntory Sungoliath on their home ground, eventually going down 31-30. Both sides scored four tries apiece in a tight tussle that saw the score locked at 10-all at halftime. Five-eighth Yasumasa Shigemitsu booted the Liners in front with a penalty early in the second half before centre Hiroki Miyamoto put Suntory back in the lead with a try in the tenth minute. Flanker Lepuha Latuila returned the favour for Kintetsu with a try in the fifteenth minute putting his side in the lead 18-17. The struggle continued over the closing stages of the game with Suntory holding a 24-23 lead at one stage before holding on to take the result 31-30. The difference came down to the boot with Tusi Pisi and Hiroki Miyamoto landing all five point scoring opportunities while Shigemitsu missed with two conversions.

On Sunday, Canon Eagles beat Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 44-20 in Oita city in the prefecture of the same name. The Eagles chalked up their fourth win of the season to consolidate third place on the Pool B table. Canon started the match on fire with five tries in the first period giving them a commanding 34-13 lead by halftime. Flanker Adam Thomson was among the points, scoring three of the five tries for the Eagles in the opening half. The scoring rate slowed down in the second half with former Japan captain Takashi Kikutani closing out the game for his new club with the last try of the day as Canon now shape as the dark horse this season. Lock Kazuhiko Usami was named the man of the match.

Pool A

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Toshiba	6	5	0	1	204	122	82	4	1	25
2	Panasonic	6	5	0	1	265	103	162	4	0	24
3	Yamaha	6	3	1	2	208	99	109	5	2	21
4	NTT Comm.	6	4	0	2	159	126	33	3	2	21
5	Kubota	6	2	1	3	129	173	-44	2	1	13
6	NEC	6	1	0	5	140	200	-60	2	3	9
7	Toyota Industries	6	2	0	4	90	195	-105	1	0	9
8	Sanix	6	1	0	5	101	278	-177	0	0	5

Pool B

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Kobe	6	5	1	0	165	92	73	3	0	25
2	Suntory	6	5	0	1	141	125	16	2	1	23
3	Canon	6	4	0	2	170	125	45	3	2	22
4	Toyota	6	3	1	2	144	133	11	2	2	18
5	Kintetsu	6	3	0	3	151	164	-13	3	2	17
6	Ricoh	6	2	0	4	171	147	24	2	3	13
7	Coca-Cola	6	1	0	5	76	179	-103	0	2	6
8	NTT Docomo	6	0	0	6	105	158	-53	2	3	5

Four points for win, two for draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2).

Leading Point Scorers

At the completion Stage 1, Round 6, Toshiba halfback Takahiro Ogawa tops the point scorers list with 74 points.

	Name	Team	T	G	PG	DG	Pts
1	Takahiro Ogawa	Toshiba	1	18	11	0	74
2	Daniel Peters	Ricoh	2	16	8	0	66
3	Berrick Barnes	Panasonic	2	11	11	0	65
4	Takaya Monji	Toyota	1	16	9	0	64
5	Yasumasa Shigemitsu	Kintetsu	1	14	10	0	63
5	Ayumu Goromaru	Yamaha	0	21	7	0	63
7	Ryohei Mitomo	Canon	1	17	7	0	60
8	Elton Jantjies	NTT Comm.	0	11	10	1	55
9	Harumichi Tatekawa	Kubota	1	11	9	0	54
10	Tadahiro Miwa	Panasonic	1	14	5	0	48

Leading Try Scorers

At the completion Stage 1, Round 6, Canon back rower Adam Thomson tops the try scorers list with nine tries.

	Name	Team	Tries
1	Adam Thomson	Canon	9
2	Daisuke Komatsu	Ricoh	6
3	Yoshimi Watanabe	NTT Docomo	5
3	Kyosuke Horie	Yamaha	5
3	Tomoki Kitagawa	Panasonic	5
6	Steven Bates	Toshiba	4
6	Nemani Nadolo	NEC	4
6	Mose Tuiali’i	Yamaha	4
6	Deryck Thomas	Toyota	4
6	Seiichi Shimomura	Panasonic	4
6	Takaaki Nakazuru	Suntory	4
6	Siale Piutau	Yamaha	4

Stage 1, Round 6 Man-of-the-match Awards

Date	Group	Teams	Score	Teams	MOTM
Sat 11 Oct 2014	B	Ricoh	31-24	NTT Docomo	Lotoahea Pohiva,
					Ricoh No.5
	A	Kubota	24-29	Toyota Industries	Mark Gerrard,
					Industries No.15
	B	Kobe	24-24	Toyota	Takaya Monji,
					Toyota No.10
	B	Kintetsu	30-31	Suntory	Naoki Ozawa,
					Suntory No.1
	A	NEC	21-44	Panasonic	Fumiaki Tanaka,
					Panasonic No.9
Sun 12 Oct 2014	B	Canon	44-20	Coca-Cola	Kazuhiko Usami,
					Canon No.5
	A	Sanix	21-59	Toshiba	Michael Leitch,
					Toshiba No.6
	A	NTT Comm.	29-26	Yamaha	Daisuke Kurihara,
					NTT Comm. No.4

 

GOLD COAST SEVENS

Round 1 of the HSBC Sevens World Series will be held at the Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia over the weekend of 11-12 4 October 2014.

The Japan Sevens Squad for the Gold Coast Sevens

	Name	Club	DOB	Age	Hgt/Wgt
1	Yusaku KUWAZURU	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	23/10/1985	28	188/97
2	Shunya GOTO	Honda heat	04/12/1989	24	189/95
3	Yuho ASHIYA	Canon Eagles	02/07/1991	23	190/94
4	Naoki CHONO	Suntory Sungoliath	09/01/1989	25	174/78
5	Lomano LEMEKI	Honda Heat	20/01/1989	25	179/95
6	Ryuhei MIKI	-	24/03/1978	36	186/87
7	Katsuyuki SAKAI (c)	Toyota Industries Shuttles	07/09/1988	26	172/88
8	Yuga HYAKUTAKE	Panasonic Wild Knights	25/06/1990	24	174/82
9	Dai KASAGI	NTT Docomo	19/09/1987	27	181/78
10	Kazushi HANO	NTT Communications	21/06/1991	23	184/86
11	Kentaro KODAMA	Panasonic Wild Knights	18/01/1992	22	183/85
12	Koshiro SHUTO	NEC Green Rockets	05/05/1984	30	163/75

Head Coach: Tomohiro Segawa.

Pools

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
France	South Africa	Australia	Argentina
Japan	Wales	Fiji	England
New Zealand	Kenya	Portugal	USA
Samoa	American Samoa	Scotland	Canada

Pool A Games for Japan

Day 1: Saturday, 11 October 2014

Game 1: (10:56) – Samoa 40 d Japan 14

Japan: 1- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 2- Shunya Goto, 4- Naoki Chono, 5- Lomano Lemeki, 7- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 10- Kazushi Hano, 12- Koshiro Shuto.
Reserves: 3- Yuho Ashiya, 6- Ryohei Miki, 8- Yuga Hyakutake, 9- Dai Kasagi, 11- Kentaro Kodama.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Lomano Lemeki, Katsuyuki Sakai; Conversions: Katsuyuki Sakai, Lomano Lemeki.

In their opening match, Japan went down 40-14 to a free-running Samoa. Samoa scored six tries to two with Samoa Toloa scoring a hat trick. Japan scored the first and last tries in the match through Lomano Lemeki and Katsuyuki Sakai, but it was the six Samoan five pointer in between that did the damage. Japan are in a very tough pool with games against New Zealand and France in the afternoon.

Game 2: (13:35) – New Zealand 59 d Japan 0

Japan: 1- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 3- Yuho Ashiya, 5- Lomano Lemeki, 7- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 9- Dai Kasagi, 10- Kazushi Hano, 11- Kentaro Kodama.
Reserves: 2- Shunya Goto, 4- Naoki Chono, 6- Ryohei Miki, 8- Yuga Hyakutake, 12- Koshiro Shuto.

Japan Scorers:

In the second match, New Zealand overwhelmed Japan 59-0. Scott Curry, Sam Dickson and DJ Forbes all touched down twice for the victors who ran in nine unanswered tries. New Zealand are the reigning Gold Coast Sevens champions and the win over Japan booked them a place in the Cup quarterfinals after beating France in their opening match.

Game 3: (17:11) – France 33 d Japan 14

Japan: 1- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 3- Yuho Ashiya, 4- Naoki Chono, 5- Lomano Lemeki, 7- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 10- Kazushi Hano, 11- Kentaro Kodama.
Reserves: 2- Shunya Goto, 6- Ryohei Miki, 8- Yuga Hyakutake, 9- Dai Kasagi, 12- Koshiro Shuto.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Yusaku Kuwazuru, Naoki Chono; Conversions: Katsuyuki Sakai 2.

In their third and final pool match, Japan went down to France 33-14. The French opened the match with three quick tries before Yusaku Kuwazuru got Japan on the board with a try late in the first period. Naoki Chono touched down early in the second half to close the gap to 19-14, but France pulled away on the scoreboard with two further tries. Renaud Delmas scored two of the five French tries while Terry Bouhraoua kicked four conversions.

Japan’s Knockout Matches

Day 2: Sunday, 12 October 2014

Bowl Quarterfinal: (10:04) – USA 26 d Japan 5

Japan: 1- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 2- Shunya Goto, 3- Yuho Ashiya, 4- Naoki Chono, 7- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 8- Yuga Hyakutake, 12- Koshiro Shuto.
Reserves: 5- Lomano Lemeki, 6- Ryohei Miki, 9- Dai Kasagi, 10- Kazushi Hano, 11- Kentaro Kodama.

Japan Scorers: Try: Kentaro Kodama.

In their Bowl Quarterfinal match, Japan lost to the USA 26-5. The Americans posted three converted tries in the opening half making it difficult for Japan to get back into the game. Carlin Isles and Kentaro Kodama scored for the USA and Japan respectively in the second half but the big first half lead got the Eagles across the line in the end. The loss sees Japan play Kenya in the Shield Semi-finals.

Shield Semi-final: (12:43) – Kenya 17 d Japan 15

Japan: 1- Yusaku Kuwazuru, 2- Shunya Goto, 5- Lomano Lemeki, 7- Katsuyuki Sakai (c), 10- Kazushi Hano, 11- Kentaro Kodama, 12- Koshiro Shuto.Reserves: 3- Yuho Ashiya, 4- Naoki Chono, 6- Ryohei Miki, 8- Yuga Hyakutake, 9- Dai Kasagi.

Japan Scorers: Tries: Kentaro Kodama, Lomano Lemeki, and Yuho Ashiya.

In their Shield Semi-final match, Japan went down to Kenya 17-15. Kentaro Kodama and Lomano Lemeki scored first half tries to give Japan a 10-7 lead at the break. Alex Olaba put Kenya in front 12-10 with a try early in the second half before Yuho Ashiya restored the lead to Japan 15-12. Japanese hopes were dashed late in the piece when Bush Mwale scored the decisive try to eliminate Japan from the tournament.

 Odds & Sods

Odds & Sods brings the reader weekly news shorts, gossip and general happenings from the world of Rugby in Japan.

On Saturday 11 October 2014, in the game against Kintetsu at Hanazono, Suntory lock Koji Shinozuka brought up his one hundredth Top League game.

World News: From 19 November 2014, the International Rugby Board (IRB) will have a change of name to ‘World Rugby’.

Suntory playmaker Tusi Pisi has been included in Samoa’s 31-man squad for the autumn tour of Europe. Lock Faatiga Lemalu who plays with Sanix is the only other Japan-based player in the squad.

Super Rugby: By the end of September 2014, Japan have shaped as favourites over Singapore to win the eighteenth and final spot in the expanded Super Rugby competition from 2016. The two Asian bidders submitted their proposals in August after which SANZAR officials visited both countries. The Southern Kings as the sixth South African franchise and a side from Argentina have already been confirmed in the expansion plans with the announcement on the final side expected soon.

Planet Rugby reports on 9 October that there is a proposal out there for Japan and Singapore to merge their separate bids into one with Singapore hosting at least four home games. Singapore Rugby Union president Low Teo Ping is quoted as saying, “We are supporting one bid, but we are the venue for the other bid so it does not matter.”

Panasonic halfback Fumiaki Tanaka has signed for a third season with the Highlanders in 2015. Former Sanyo/Panasonic team mate Tony Brown is assistant coach at the Otago based franchise.

Former Toshiba playmaker David Hill is heading to the Blues as backs skills coach under Sir JK next season. Hill is currently playing with Kurita.