Jesse Kriel’s try-scoring return helps Yokohama Canon Eagles to semi-final berth while Marika Koroibete scores another brace

Springboks centre Jesse Kriel made an encouraging return to duty from injury on Saturday, coming off the bench to score as the Yokohama Canon Eagles ran in four second-half tries without reply in a 43-19 win over the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars.

Kriel, who had been out since mid-January due to a broken thumb, made his reappearance in the 54th minute, and was a try-scorer 14 minutes later, pushing the Eagles beyond two scores into the lead, while also setting up a try-scoring bonus point.

Sagamihara went try-for-try with Yokohama in the opening period, with the second of winger Ben Paltridge’s five-pointers giving his side the lead after half-an-hour.

A try two minutes later by Shunta Nakamura turned the tide, levelling the Japan Rugby League One game at the break, before the Yokohama hooker crossed twice more after play resumed, completing his second hat-trick of the season in the 56th minute.

Kriel put game beyond doubt

The 30-year-old’s treble helped overturn a 19-14 deficit, with the Eagles ahead 29-19 by the time Nakamura had completed his treble. Kriel‘s score then put the game beyond doubt.

Yokohama’s 10th win of the season confirmed their semi-final place and also administered the final blow to the slim semi-final chances of Toyota Verblitz, Shizuoka Blue Revs and Kubota Spears.

Steve Hansen’s Verblitz were busy making a meal of any chance they had anyway, going down 40-7 to the Saitama Wild Knights, who clinched the top position and semi-final seeding with the win.

While both sides featured several big-name internationals, it was the Wild Knights’ foreign stars who made the headlines, with each of Springboks second-row Lood de Jager and Wallaby wing Marika Koroibete scoring first-half doubles as the visitors raced to a 26-7 lead, despite playing into the wind.

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Just as impressive was the Wild Knights’ defence, who exerted such pressure that Toyota had nowhere to go, coughing up numerous turnovers as their attack ran out of ideas, and resorting to desperate off-the-cuff plays.

The performance highlighted the scale of the task awaiting Verblitz’s new coaching addition, former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, who arrives next season. It also served notice once again to play-off opponents that the Saitama side, who stretched their unbeaten season to 14 wins, are going to take some stopping in next month’s sudden death phase.

Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath needed a penalty goal by fly-half Mikiya Takamoto four minutes from time to secure a 31-31 tie with Shizuoka Blue Revs and maintain third place – also securing their semi-final place in the process.

Bidding to break a 13-game losing sequence against Sungoliath, the Blue Revs overturned a 14-7 half-time deficit to draw level 21-21 entering the last quarter. The two sides traded tries and penalty goals in the run to the final whistle, with Blue Revs prop Sean Vete looking to have won it for his side when he scored his maiden try in Japan Rugby League One six minutes from time, before Takamoto’s late intervention allowed third-placed Sungoliath to share the points.

Although subsequent results saw Sungoliath’s semi-final ticket booked, they lead the Canon Eagles by just two points with games against Brave Lupus and the Kubota Spears to come and may need to win them both to avoid the prospect of facing the Wild Knights on the first weekend of the play-offs.

Hanazono Kintetsu Liners win

At the bottom of the table, Mie Honda Heat and Hanazono Kintetsu Liners are confirmed for the promotion/relegation play-off while and Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo’s hopes of avoiding the relegation series are on life support after falling to defeat in Osaka to the hitherto winless Liners on Sunday.

Despite trailing 14-3 after the opening 20 minutes, Kintetsu outscored their rivals 31-9 for the remainder of the contest, holding the Black Rams try-less during the last hour, while scoring four themselves to record a 34-23 victory.

Although not enough to lift them off the bottom of the table, Kintetsu’s maiden win – the last side across the three divisions in Japan to win a match for the first time this season – was a much-needed confidence boost after a difficult campaign.

The Heat couldn’t quite get over the line in a dour struggle against an understrength Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo during an 8-7 defeat, but Argentinean international Pablo Matera got through a solid 40-minute workout in his first match since the World Cup, and his return is a massive boost for ex-Italy coach Kieran Crowley’s side two weeks out from the defence of their Division One status in the Replacement Battle.

With Brave Lupus already qualified for the semi-finals, and a massive Fuchu derby against Sungoliath coming up on Saturday in which a win would guarantee second place, Lupus coach Todd Blackadder chose to rest several players, making eight alterations to the starting XV that drew 40-40 with Kobe last week.

The changes, and a fierce challenge from Honda, inevitably led to some clunkiness in the Toshiba performance, with both sides struggling during a scoreless first half.

Three stars back for Spears

A try by Honda winger Kanta Watanabe straight after the restart finally produced some points, and it took until the 71st minute for Brave Lupus to respond, when hooker and skipper Mamoru Harada scored his fourth try of the season.

Although Hayata Nakao missed the conversion, he made no mistake when another chance presented itself four minutes later, kicking the penalty goal that gave his side the win.

Kubota Spears’ 39-29 win over Kobelco Kobe Steelers at Hokkaido’s Sapporo Dome, combined with other results elsewhere, meant that neither side will make the semi-finals this season.

While injuries haven’t helped Frans Ludeke’s men in their failed title defence, he had all three of his international stars – Wales full-back Liam Williams, Wallaby fly-half Bernard Foley and All Blacks hooker Dane Coles – on deck on Sunday and it showed as the Spears dominated, out-scoring their rivals five-tries-to-three in a win that was more comprehensive than the final scoreline suggests.

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