Kwagga Smith scores twice to beat Springboks teammate in 86-point thriller while Cheslin Kolbe’s kicking heroics fall short
BlueRevs' captain Kwagga Smith and an inset of Tokyo Sungoliath back Cheslin Kolbe.
Cheslin Kolbe’s pinpoint accuracy from the tee was enough to inspire Tokyo Sungoliath to a come-from-behind victory over Franco Mostert’s Mie Honda Heat in the weekend’s Japan Rugby League One action.
Elsewhere, Kwagga Smith crossed twice as the Shizuoka BlueRevs kept their JRLO play-off hopes alive by defeating the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars.
We recap the weekend’s action from a South African perspective.
Pablo Matera and Franco Mostert inspire Honda’s win
The Kieran Crowley-coached and Mostert-captained Mie Honda Heat clinched a 24-17 upset over the Tokyo Sungoliath on Saturday, courtesy of a man-of-the-match performance from Los Pumas great Pablo Matera.
Honda were the quickest out the blocks in a fixture played in torrid conditions with Mostert expertly popping the ball to Fijian hooker Tevita Ikanivere from a lineout. A few phases later, the Springbok helped force Matera over the line from close range for the first score of the game.
Ikanivere grabbed the second try from a rolling maul to make it a 12-point advantage after just 10 minutes before Ben Paltridge brilliantly clutched the slippery ball from a cross-kick to score his side’s third try in the opening quarter.
Tevita Li looked to have further extended their advantage only for his try to be disallowed after a TMO review. Sungoliath centre Shogo Nakano suffered the same fate before the half-hour mark but not too long after he did get his five-pointer out on the left flank. Kolbe dissected the posts with the conversion to reduce the deficit to 10 points, a buffer that the Heat retained until the halftime break.
Sungoliath continued to battle their way back into the match with Kolbe converting a straightforward penalty early in the second half, but Ikanivere fired back for the Heat, sprinting off the back of a driving maul to score a memorable 18-odd metre try. That crucially extended Honda’s lead to 14 points as Sungoliath resumed their fightback into the match, scoring through hooker Kosuke Horikoshi. Despite the tricky angle, Koble added the extras to set-up a tense finish to the match with the momentum with Sungoliath.
With less than a minute left on the clock, replacement prop Kenta Kobayashi looked almost certain to score but he was brilliantly held up by Matera as the Pumas back-rower added the finishing touches to his man of the match shift by denying Sungoliath an opportunity to draw the game.
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Kwagga Smith at the double
Meanwhile, Smith inspired Shizuoka BlueRevs to a 45-41 victory over the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars.
The BlueRevs found themselves trailing 31-12 after the opening half-hour of action before Smith grabbed his first try of the game to reduce the deficit before the half-time break.
He doubled his tally by powering through a double tackle, which included Springbok teammate Lukhanyo Am, to score his second in the 70th minute – a try that pushed his side into a 45-34 lead.
That was enough to see the BlueRevs to victory despite a late DynaBoars try to secure a losing bonus point, denying Smith’s charges a try bonus point.
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Elsewhere, Damian de Allende got the scoreboard in Saitama Wild Knights’ 42-12 victory over the Canon Eagles, who had Faf de Klerk and Jesse Kriel in their starting line-up, while Jasper Wiese started the Urayasu D-Rocks’ 40-24 loss to defending champions, Toshiba Brave Lupus, who snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Finally, Malcolm Marx came off the bench in Kubota Spears’ 24-7 defeat at the hands of Sir Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz.
