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Springbok pair help pull off mammoth upset in Japan League One opening weekend
Springbok pair Jesse Kriel and Faf de Klerk completed their season debuts for Yokohama Canon Eagles by orchestrating a big upset over Japan’s heavyweight team the Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
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The two-time Top League champions who in recent times have signed All Blacks Dan Carter, Ben Smith and Ngani Laumape, have been one of Japan’s powerhouse clubs along with Suntory Sungoliath and Robbie Deans’ Saitama Wild Knights.
The Canon Eagles finished sixth last season in the 12-team first division of the renamed Japan Rugby League One.
Bolstered by Japanese internationals Yu Tamura and Amanaki Mafi and Springboks Kriel and De Klerk, the revamped Eagles stunned the Steelers with a 39-30 victory in a high-scoring affair at NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Stadium.
De Klerk was in doubt after suffering an ankle injury against England at Twickenham, but came into the game off the bench to offer a crucial cameo.
After Kobe took an early 3-0 lead, flyhalf Tamura got the Eagles on the board scoring the game’s first try from a switch play following a scrum.
Japan’s No 10 sliced through some feeble defence to score and send the bumper home crowd into a frenzy.
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Yokohama struck again moments later when Springbok centre Kriel put his fullback into space with a perfectly timed offload to SP Marias off the back of a well-executed attacking shape.
The 33-year-old fullback went over untouched to give the Eagles the dream start after 15 minutes at 12-3.
The Steelers built some momentum to respond with a try to left wing Kanta Matsunaga and the teams traded penalty goals to enter half-time with the game in the balance at 15-13.
Early in the second half, Kriel was involved again in a big play after a strip on Kobe’s No 8 Ataata Moeakiola gave the ball to Canon just outside their own 22.
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Launching a counter-attack, Kriel found his left wing for a break down the touchline before a kick in behind forced the Steelers to scramble. They failed to secure the loose ball, allowing the Eagles to recover.
The Springbok centre played scrumhalf and secured his second try assist of the game hitting his lock Cory Hill steaming onto the ball with the Kobe defence struggling to reset.
With half an hour to go holding a 22-13 lead, Faf de Klerk subbed into the game.
The Springbok No 9 produced a key assist to hand Cory Hill his second try of the game, laying on a short pass for the Welsh lock.
Holding a narrow 29-27 lead with seven minutes remaining the Eagles went to the rolling maul and profited when their barnstorming No 8 Amanaki Mafi crashed over to give the side a decent cushion.
Two late penalties kept the Eagles ahead by more than a try and the Steelers could not register a losing point.
In the other Division I Sunday afternoon games, giants Suntory Sungoliath were upset in another stunner by Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay featuring Wallaby Bernard Foley and Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx.
Green Rockets Tokatsu held on to just beat the Hanazono Liners 36-34 who were without star flyhalf Quade Cooper.
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments