1
Israel Folau named to start second League One match after impressive debut
Former Wallabies star Israel Folau has been named to start his second Japan Rugby League One match after impressing in his competition debut last weekend.
ADVERTISEMENT
Folau he scored both of his team’s tries in his first match for the Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu in their dramatic 24-23 season-opening victory over the Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Kobe last Saturday.
The fixture doubled as Folau’s first professional rugby union match since his high-profile sacking from Rugby Australia in 2019.
It didn’t take long for the 32-year-old to reacquaint himself to the XV-man code, though, as he bagged the first of his two tries within 12 minutes before latching onto an Otere Black cross kick to score his second try four minutes from full-time.
Folau has since been rewarded with selection at fullback for the Shining Arcs’ round two clash against the Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.
Folau headlines the Shining Arcs starting side, which also features first-five Black, former Wallabies loose forward Liam Gill at No 8, ex-Blues and Crusaders lock Jimmy Tupou in the second row, and South African midfielder Shane Gates at centre.
The Division 1 clash acts as the first match of the season for the Kubota Spears, who had their season-opener against the Saitama Wild Knights cancelled due to a Covid-19 outbreak in their opponents’ squad.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kubota were subsequently handed five competition points, but will be eager to make up for last week’s false start with a victory over their local rivals in the Japanese capital.
Former All Blacks midfielder Ryan Crotty, who has been named to start at centre, will be key to Kubota’s, as will Brave Blossoms flanker Lappies Labuschagne and captain Harumichi Tatekawa.
Kubota have also named South African trio Ruan Botha, David Bulbring and Gerhard van den Heever as their starting locks and fullback, respectively, but will be without Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx and former Wallabies pivot Bernard Foley.
Likewise, the Shining Arcs are missing former Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw, who was also absent from last week’s clash, from their match day squad.
ADVERTISEMENT
Elsewhere throughout League One, Toshiba Brave Lupus have named former All Blacks trio Matt Todd, Seta Tamanivalu and Tom Taylor for their away clash against the NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka on Saturday.
All three players will be accompanied by impressive lock partners Warner Dearns and Jacob Pierce in their bid to bounce back from last week’s 60-46 loss to Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath, but will have to do so without experienced loose forward Michael Leitch.
That task will be made easier by the absences of Springboks playmaker Elton Jantjies, who started at No 10 in the Red Hurricanes’ 43-22 defeat to Black Rams Tokyo last weekend, and Brave Blossoms loose forward Wimpie van der Walt.
The Yokohama Canon Eagles, meanwhile, are still without Springboks midfielder Jesse Kriel as they eye a second successive win to start their season when the host the Kobe Steelers at Nissan Stadium on Saturday.
The Canon Eagles will, however, have ex-Wales lock Cory Hill and powerful Brave Blossoms No 8 Amanaki Mafi in their forward pack, as well as veteran Japanese first-five Yu Tamura at No 10.
Working in their favour is the absence of former All Blacks first-five Aaron Cruden, who is absent from Kobe’s starting side after he missed what would have been the match-winning conversion in injury time against the Shining Arcs.
Nevertheless, the Steelers – whose director of rugby is ex-All Blacks coach Wayne Smith – still boast 2021 Japan representatives Ji-won Koo, Isileli Nakajima and Tim Lafaele in their match day squad.
Highlanders cult hero Richard Buckman, ex-Blues lock Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, former Chiefs wing Ataata Moeakiola and ex-Stormers second rower JD Schickerling have also been named to start for Kobe.
Shining Arcs vs Kubota Spears
Shining Arcs: 1. Anoka Shota, 2. Miura Rin, 3. Shotaro Hirai, 4. Kim Rinshi, 5. Jimmy Tupou, 6. James Moore, 7. Shokei Kin, 8. Liam Gill, 9. Atsushi Yumoto, 10. Otere Black, 11. Kazushi Hano, 12. Tone Tukufuka, 13. Shane Gates, 14. Kai Ishii, 15. Israel Folau. Reserves: 16. Ryushi Fujimura, 17. Ken Saito, 18. Syuhei Takeuchi, 19. Sam Jeffries, 20. Hiroyuki Mezaki, 21. Ryo Tsuruda, 22. Taiji Hongo, 23. Brackin Karauria-Henry
Kubota Spears: 1. Kengo Kitagawa, 2. Hiroaki Sugimoto, 3. Opeti Helu, 4. Ruan Botha, 5. David Bulbring, 6. Finau Tupa, 7. Lappies Labuschagne, 8. Faulua Makisi, 9. Kazuhiro Taniguchi, 10. Tomoki Kishioka, 11. Hirokyuki Yamasaki, 12. Harumichi Tatekawa, 13. Ryan Crotty, 14. Kazuhiro Goya, 15. Gerhard van den Heever. Reserves: 16. Kentaro Otsuka, 17. Kwanyoung Na, 18. Satoshi Saita, 19. Uwe Helu, 20. Sione Vatuvei, 21. Shinobu Fujiwara, 22. Sione Teaupa, 23. Kim Su-Ryung
NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes vs Toshiba Brave Lupus
NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes: 1. Kazuma Nishikawa 2. Franco Marais, 3. Tatsuro Sugimoto, 4. Tyler Paul, 5. Ryan Vermaak, 6. Daisuke Yokoyama, 7. Shinya Osugi, 8. Lui Naeata, 9. Akira Inoue, 10. Ei Kawamukai, 11. Larry Sulunga, 12. Mifiposeti Paea, 13. Masaki Kobayashi, 14. Koki Shigeno, 15. Taichi Toshizawa. Reserves: 16. Hiroaki Ushihara, 17. Yosuke Nishiura, 18. Kim Ryom, 19. Tatsunari Fujita, 20. Toru Sugeshita, 21. Toshihiro Yamanouchi, 22. Tonisio Vaihu, 23. Kanta Yamamoto
Toshiba Brave Lupus: 1. Yuma Fujino, 2. Daigo Hashimoto, 3. Yuta Kokaji, 4. Warner Dearns, 5. Jacob Pierce, 6. Sione Lavemai, 7. Matt Todd, 8. Hiroki Yamamoto, 9. Takahiro Ogawa, 10. Tom Taylor, 11. Taiki Matsunobu, 12. Hayato Nakao, 13. Seta Tamanivalu, 14. Jone Naikabula, 15. Takuro Matsunaga. Reserves: 16. Futoshi Mori, 17. Teruo Makabe, 18. Yuu Chinen, 19. Kyosuke Kajikawa, 20. Takeshi Sasake, 21. Jack Stratton, 22. Johnny Fa’auli, 23. Toshiki Kuwayama
Canon Eagles vs Kobe Steelers
Canon Eagles: 1. Takato Okabe, 2. Yusuke Niwau, 3. Rento Tsukayama, 4. Amanaki Saumaki, 5. Cory Hill, 6. Kobus van Dyk, 7. Naoto Shimada, 8. Amanaki Mafi, 9. Kouki Arai, 10. Yu Tamura, 11. Masayoshi Takezawa, 12. Yusuke Kajimura, 13. Naoya Minamihashi, 14. Chihito Matsui, 15. Jumpei Ogura. Reserves: 16. Shinobu Takashima, 17. Suguru Igarashi, 18. Shota Matsuoka, 19. Samuela Anise, 20. Shinichi Tanaka, 21. Kazufumi Yamasuga, 22. Viliame Takayawa, 23. Seiya Yamada
Kobe Steelers: 1. Hisateru Hirashima, 2. Ryuhei Arita, 3. Koo Ji-won, 4. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5. JD Schickerling, 6. Brodie McCurran, 7. Daiki Hashimoto, 8. Jang Seok-Hwan, 9. Atsushi Hiwasa, 10. Lee Seung-Sin, 11. Rakuhei Yamashita, 12. Ataata Moeakiola, 13. Richard Buckman, 14. Fraser Anderson, 15. Ryohei Yamanaka. Reserves: 16. Kenta Matsuoka, 17. Isileli Nakajima, 18. Hiroshi Yamashita, 19. Naohiro Kotaki, 20. Hikaru Hashimoto, 21. Daiki Nakajima, 22. Tim Lafaele, 23. Shinsuke Iseki
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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!
5 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 …
33 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.
5 Go to comments