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Watch: Marty Banks is clutch once again as the Perenara-inspired Red Hurricanes almost shock the Top League
The NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes have almost pulled off a colossal upset in the Japan Top League in a titanic battle with Wayne Smith’s Kobelco Steelers, featuring All Black stars Aaron Cruden, Brodie Retallick and Ben Smith.
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The incredible story of the Red Hurricanes this season continued, as another top-class TJ Perenara performance inspired his side to defy all odds with the will to win.
The fiery halfback was involved in nearly everything early, making try-saving tackles and scoring his side’s first try from a set-piece scrum.
Taking an 8-9 pass down the blindside, Perenara played former Sunwolves ace Hayden Parker off with a dummy before scampering toward the try line.
Carrying Parker and loose forward Tom Franklin on his back, he refused to be denied in finding the strength to drive over with leg power.
The score gave the Red Hurricanes the lead back at 8-7 before Kobe’s power up front paid dividends with a penalty try from a scrum five metres out.
In the aftermath of the collapsed scrum, Kobe prop Hiroshi Yamashita took exception with Perenara and started a scuffle with the All Blacks halfback.
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Taking on three or four Kobe players, Perenara stood his ground valiantly, which was symbolic of the day’s play.
The Red Hurricanes halfback was involved in striking straight back, playing a nice pass in the lead-up to their second try which was scored from a grubber kick by Springbok winger Makazole Mapimpi.
In a back-and-forth game, a try to fullback Tom Marshall and a penalty goal to Marty Banks gave the Red Hurricanes a 26-19 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
It looked like the underdogs would pull off the most improbable of upsets, before a brilliant play by Aaron Cruden tied things up.
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The legendary Chiefs first-five used a little goose step before threading through a well-weighted grubber into the in-goal to set up a Kobe try.
With six minutes remaining the Red Hurricanes had one more chance at history and asked Marty Banks to step up and kick over a penalty to re-claim the lead one more time.
The former Highlanders cult hero, with a history of clinching late wins in big-time matches, calmly slotted the 30-metre penalty with a controlled and assured kicking motion.
That looked to have secured an upset victory until Kobe were given one last chance two minutes into injury time, using a lineout maul from five metres out to score in injury time and break the hearts of the Red Hurricanes.
Replacement hooker Kenta Matsuoka broke away from the back of the maul and smashed through a desperate two-man tackle involving Perenara to steal the match for the Steelers.
Described as one of the games of the season, the Red Hurricanes fell just short 29-31 in a performance that showed the rest of the Top League that they are the real deal.
After losing to Yamaha 33-21 last week, this week’s late loss to second-placed Kobe showed that the early season form was no fluke. NTT Docomo still sit in third place in the conference but the gap between them and the top two sides is now growing.
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