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Wallaby flyhalf lights up Japan with 17 point haul and third try in four weeks
Wallabies five-eighth Bernard Foley has bagged 17 points, including his third try in four weeks, to spark a spectacular revival by Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay as they beat Mie Honda Heat 61-24 in Japan Rugby League One.
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The outgoing champions trailed 17-0 after half an hour before a yellow card to Heat’s Springboks lock Franco Mostert transformed the game.
By the time the South African returned, the Spears had claimed three tries to creep ahead, before running amok during a second-half scoring spree in which they crossed seven times.
After a disappointing defence of their title, the Spears can finish fifth by beating third-placed Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath next week.
Sungoliath were beaten by Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 36-27 in the Fuchu derby.
While the round’s other results mean the west Tokyo rivals will meet again in the semi-finals, Brave Lupus will take confidence after completing a season double over Sungoliath for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign.
They did it without trump card, Richie Mo’unga. The All Black, who has been away on bereavement leave, watched from the stands at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
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Yokohama Canon Eagles might have already qualified for the semi-finals, but they were undone by All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett, whose visionary kick in behind produced the match-winning try for fullback Taichi Takahashi, following a 31-phase build-up that ran beyond the final hooter.
The try allowed Toyota Verblitz to win the game 35-31, keeping them in contention for fifth going into the final round.
That position is currently held by Dave Rennie’s Kobelco Kobe Steelers, and the ex-Wallabies coach’s men appear in no mood to surrender it after outclassing Shizuoka Blue Revs 63-19 in Osaka.
Wallaby Quade Cooper missed Saturday’s action, but his Hanazono Kintetsu Liners teammates put up a good fight before going down 33-24 to Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights.
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Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, coached by Australian Peter Hewat, will contest next month’s promotion/relegation series despite their 31-24 win over Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars.
Comments on RugbyPass
Doxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
74 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
32 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
32 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
74 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
32 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to comments