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Beauden Barrett binned as Toyota Verblitz season on life-support
Beauden Barrett received just the fifth yellow card of his 15-year club career as the playoff hopes of Toyota Verblitz were left on life-support at the end of the latest round of Japan Rugby League One.
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The All Black flyhalf was sin-binned in the fifth minute of his side’s 24-8 defeat by Shizuoka Blue Revs on Saturday, being ejected after high contact on the home side’s try-bound Indian-born winger Keagen Faria.
Insult was added to injury with the Blue Revs awarded a penalty try, which gave Shizuoka the perfect start on their way to a victory that may have killed off any hopes the Steve Hansen-coached Verblitz had of making the semi-finals.
Verblitz, who are 10 points from fourth with just five games remaining, have made the playoffs just once since the former All Black coach took over as Director of Rugby in 2019.
The Blue Revs scored two tries, but could have had two more, with Charles Piutau twice pulled up after crossing the line because of knock ons in the lead-up play.
Barrett’s previous four club yellow cards were conceded at the Hurricanes, two coming in the same match which saw him sent off against the NSW Waratahs in 2017.
The 32-year-old has been yellow carded just once in 123 tests.
On a weekend of contrasting fortunes for the international flyhalves, fellow All Black Richie Mo’unga’s was also yellow-carded for a professional foul as Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo scraped home 40-33 against a Ricoh Black Rams outfit who benefited from two tries by ex-England backrower Nathan Hughes.
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Wallaby Quade Cooper’s Hanzono Kintetsu Liners sunk to their 11th defeat of the season after being outclassed 60-17 by Kobelco Kobe Steelers in today’s Kansai derby.
Meanwhile the 70-test veteran Yu Tamura was the toast of Yokohama after his nerveless 83rd-minute penalty goal helped the Eagles recover from a 25-point halftime deficit to record an astounding 37-35 win over Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath on Saturday.
Third-placed Sungoliath shredded the Eagles defence with ease in the first half, with two of their five tries beginning from near their own goal-line, as they romped to a 35-10 lead.
Yet they were held scoreless after the break as Yokohama, aided by seven goals from as many attempts by their ex-Brave Blossoms flyhalf, whittled away at the margin, before taking the lead when it mattered most.
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The Australian-educated Brave Blossoms centre Dylan Riley starred on Friday night as Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights hammered Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay 55-22 in the grand final replay, almost certainly consigning the champions’ title ‘defence’ to the dustbin.
Riley scored two tries, taking his tally for the season to 10, while his midfield partner, double Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok Damien de Allende, was also a standout and scored the opening try, as the unbeaten Wild Knights moved to within a win of semi-final qualification.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments