All Blacks fly-half stars as Toshiba closes the gap despite Springbok’s rampant showing

Former Wallabies boss Robbie Deans’ Saitama Wild Knights won the big clash of the Japanese Rugby League One (JRLO) round seven, beating Tokyo Sungoliath 24-20 in a tense encounter in Saitama.

The Wild Knights, who had been running rampant in the JRLO hitherto, were reliant this time on a solid pack performance and the boot of Rikiya Matsuda for the win, with the fly-half landing two crucial late penalties to add to two earlier ones and a conversion.

Springboks centre Damian de Allende shines for Wild Knights

The home side had their noses in front at half-time, with Springboks centre Damien de Allende’s break and offload to Brave Blossom Dylan Riley in the 11th minute cancelling out Seiya Ozaki’s early try for the visitors and Matsuda performing better with the boot than counterpart Mikiya Takamoto.

But Takamoto dropped a goal and Ryoto Nakamura thundered over in a seven-minute blitz early in the second half by the visitors, giving them a 20-13 lead and asking questions of the leaders.

The response was not long in coming, with De Allende cleverly slipping Tomoki Osada away for a scorching break and Ryuji Noguchi finishing off the attack three phases later. The hosts saw out the game patiently, with Matsuda’s boot giving a reward for dominance around the park.

That did mark only the second time the Wild Knights had failed to get a bonus point this season and allowed Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo to close the gap at the top with a bonus point 27-7 win over Yokohama Canon Eagles.

All Blacks fly-half Richie Mo’unga steers Brave Lupus to victory

It took a while for the Lupus to put the game to bed, with an early blitz featuring tries from centre Nick McCurran and flanker Takeshi Sasaki not built upon.

It took another 45 minutes for the third try, with All Blacks fly-half Richie Mo’unga picking up his own charge-down and scampering 70 metres. Wing Atsuki Kuwayama finished the job with seven minutes remaining before the visitors notched a consolation score through new signing Rohan Janse van Rensburg – who joined the side to compensate for the injuries to Jesse Kriel and Faf de Klerk – with time up on the clock.

But there is now daylight between those two undefeated teams and the rest of the league. Sungoliath remain in third despite their defeat, but they are now at the top of a bottleneck of teams sitting on four or three wins from their seven matches.

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Defending Japanese Rugby League One champions stay in the race

Ticked in behind Sungoliath in fourth are the defending champions Kubota Spears, who made light work of the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners – who have Will Genia and Quade Cooper on their payroll – with a 56-19 win, in which they were 39-0 up at the break.

Wales international Liam Williams and ex-All Black Dane Coles were among the scorers for the Spears, with Williams also giving a rare glimpse of his goal-kicking abilities (he didn’t have the best day, landing only three from seven before being taken off).

Behind the Spears are Sir Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz, who thrashed Mie Honda Heat 54-7 without breaking much of a sweat. It took Verblitz a while to get going, but a second-half brace from back-row Isaiah Mapusua helped them break down the stubborn Honda defence.

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are in sixth, having laboured past Black Rams Tokyo 27-17 in Tokyo. The game was tied 10-10 at half-time after Ngani Laumape for the Steelers and Nathan Hughes for the Rams had exchanged tries, and respective fly-halves Bryn Gatland and Matt McGahan had traded kicks.

A penalty try at the start of the second half swung the game the visitors’ way though, and a late try from wing Rakuhei Yamushita was the clincher.

Another week another round!

Where does your team stand on the leaderboard? 📈🤔

Check out the current standings after Rounds 6 and 7 👇#NTTLeagueOne | #GoForwardAsOne pic.twitter.com/eLFKTPEOdv

— JAPAN RUGBY LEAGUE ONE (@LeagueOne_EN) February 27, 2024

In the final game of the weekend, the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars got the best of a 98-point extravaganza against Shizuoka BlueRevs in Kanagawa, winning 53-45. The teams were tied at 26-26 at the break, with both scoring four tries and both needing to respond to falling behind on occasion.

The pattern of score and counter-score continued in the second half, but wing Ben Paltridge struck for the Dynaboars with 10 minutes to go to stretch the home team’s lead to 12 points, and it proved a decisive blow.

Both teams are on three wins out of seven and neither covered itself in defensive glory; they lie eighth and ninth respectively, ahead of the Black Rams, Liners and Heat.

Round seven of the JRLO season was split over two weekends, with Toyota Verblitz and the Wild Knights claiming victories a fortnight ago, with the remainder of the action taking place a week later.

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