Despite All Black winger Mark Telea scoring a brace of tries, Toyota Verblitz suffered their third loss of the Japan Rugby League One season yesterday, falling 37-29 to Black Rams Tokyo.
The squad led by Steve Hansen, having concluded their previous season in a disappointing 10th position, finds itself once more in the identical standing after squandering a 29-10 lead at the break in Fukuoka, even though their rivals had three players temporarily removed from play.
In a round where yellow cards were a notably frequent topic, the Black Rams, captained by TJ Perenara, saw two of their athletes penalized simultaneously in the second half; however, Verblitz failed to capitalize by scoring during this period.
On Saturday, a dozen yellow cards were issued across Division One’s five fixtures, with an additional two today as Kubota Spears ascended to the summit of the league table via points differential following their overwhelming 45-21 defeat of Mie Honda Heat.
Former All Blacks captain Sam Cane received two sanctions in Tokyo during Sungoliath’s narrow 22-20 loss to Dave Rennie’s Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
Sungoliath maintained a lead for a significant portion of the match, but ultimately conceded in the final minute when Springbok Cheslin Kolbe moved prematurely from the try line while attempting an interception, thereby enabling Kobe’s Japanese international Seungsin Lee to secure the decisive points.
Former Hurricanes back Tjay Clarke experienced a memorable day in Kanagawa, registering a hat-trick of tries, though he also received a card for repeated rule breaches, as Toshiba Brave Lupus comprehensively defeated Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars 47-22.
The 23-year-old athlete, making only his fourth League One appearance since his transfer from Wellington, was among three Toshiba players temporarily sidelined by match officials, concurrently with Dynaboars’ Springbok center Lukhanyo Am also being shown a yellow card.
All Black halfback Brad Weber played his inaugural game for the host team during the latter half.
Having frequently caused difficulties for the Saitama Wild Knights previously, Shizuoka Blue Revs appeared poised to repeat this, holding a 15-8 lead at the interval in Kumagaya, but they were ultimately overwhelmed in the second period as the host squad scored five tries en route to a decisive 37-22 triumph.
The Urayasu D-Rocks, under Graham Rowntree, maintain their impressive form, ascending to fifth place after matching their entire win total from last year (three victories) in only their fourth match, by defeating the still-winless Yokohama Canon Eagles 28-22.
All Black Peter Umaga-Jensen secured two tries in Division Two as Hanazono Kintetsu Liners triumphed over Hino Red Dolphins 47-34 to preserve their undefeated record, concurrently with the widely experienced Chase Tiatia, who led Division Three’s try-scoring charts last season with 14, achieving a hat-trick during SAYAMA SECOM RUGGUTS’ commanding 70-3 victory against Yakult Levins Toda.
