RiJ Vol.6 No.45

December 8, 2009

Contact Ian McDonnell at ianmcdo@apost.plala.or.jp

 

 


 

Contents:

¡       Japan Rugby Top League 2009-10

s     Round 9

¡       The Grubber Kick:

s     IRB Ranking: 13 (70.59, 7 December 2009)

s      Backchat:

 

RiJ brings the reader all the action of round nine of Top League.

 

 

 

TOP LEAGUE

 

2009-10 Round 9

 

Round 9

Date

K/0

Teams

Score

Teams

Venue

Sat, 5 Dec 2009

13:00

Toyota

6-3

NEC

Mizuho, Nagoya

 

13:00

Coca-Cola (2Ts)

29-22

Ricoh (3Ts)

Kitakyushu

Sun, 6 Dec 2009

12:00

Honda (3Ts)

19-45

Toshiba (7Ts)

Hanazono, Osaka

 

14:00

Kintetsu (1T)

13-26

Kobe (4Ts)

Hanazono, Osaka

 

13:00

Kubota (4Ts)

28-55

Sanyo (9Ts)

Ehime

 

12:00

Kyuden (3Ts)

19-21

Yamaha (3Ts)

KK Wing, Kumamoto

 

14:00

Sanix (3Ts)

17-46

Suntory (7Ts)

KK Wing, Kumamoto

 

 

Round Nine Preview

In one of two Saturday games in Round 9, Toyota Verblitz play NEC Green Rockets on home territory at the Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya for this important clash. Toyota are steadily improving as the season progresses and they must now be eyeing a final four finish. Sanyo, Suntory and Toshiba are dominating the top three positions but the fourth spot on the table is very open with a number of teams in the hunt. On the other hand, the Rockets will have to turn over a new page for the second half of the season as they sit in twelfth place on the table with just the one win after the first eight rounds. However, facing Toyota in their home town is going to present a tough challenge for the struggling NEC.

 

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks are at home in Kitakyushu to take on the ever improving Ricoh Black Rams. Both sides have four wins and four losses after eight rounds and share the same 17 points on the table. A win for both teams will be important to ensure they finish mid table and avoid the prospect of the promotion and relegation play-offs. Last round, Ricoh had a solid 25-19 win over Kintetsu at Hanazono and this should give them confidence going into this away clash with Coca-Cola who are coming off a loss. There is a lot to play for in this game and this should produce an exciting match for the people of Kitakyushu.

 

Honda Heat play Toshiba Brave Lupus in the first game of a double header at the Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Ground in Osaka. Although there is still a long way to go in the season, another loss will start to bring the prospect of relegation to the fore and this should be enough motivation for the Heat to strive for their second win of the year after beating Kyuden last round. However, Toshiba as the defending Top League champion are one of the front runners again this year and they have a lot of firepower to call on to aim at Honda. The Brave Lupus will be also aiming for their seventh win of the season to guarantee they finish high on the table.

 

In the second game at Hanazono, Kintetsu Liners are at home for the second week in a row to take on Kobe Steelers. Both these teams had defeats last weekend with Kobe losing heavily to Sanyo and Kintetsu not doing enough against Ricoh. Consequently, the two sides lost ground on the table with Kobe dropping to sixth and Kintetsu to eleventh. Kobe will have to up the ante if they are to repeat their fourth place finish of last season, while the same can be said for the Liners as they finished ninth in 2008-9. With only five rounds remaining the jostling for positions mid table is set to heat up over the next few weeks.

 

Kubota Spears and Sanyo Wild Knights travel to Ehime prefecture on the island of Shikoku to play out this round nine clash. Sanyo have won all eight of their games and sit two points clear of Suntory on top of the table on 38 points and they will be wanting to retain their top spot at the expense of Kubota. On the other hand, the Spears lost 26-0 to Toyota last Sunday and they simply cannot afford a second loss in a row if they are to seriously challenge for a top four finish. The Knights are in devastating form as they beat Kobe 50-5 in Tokyo last round and so it is going to be a tall order for the Spears to bring down the Knights this weekend.

 

Kyuden Voltex do battle with Yamaha Jubilo in the first game of a double header at the KK Wing Stadium in Kumamoto city, Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu. Kyuden have struggled throughout the 2009-10 season losing all eight games and they currently sit in last place on the table, so they will have to come up with a win against Jubilo if they are to possibly avoid automatic relegation at the end of the season. However, Yamaha are building up nicely to the end of their season with a top four finish the carrot to keep them motivated. Jubilo picked up maximum points in the 32-13 win over Coca-Cola in Okayama last round and if they can again chalk up a bonus point win against Kyuden they should hold onto fourth spot on the table for another week.

 

In the second game at Kumamoto, Fukuoka Sanix Blues do battle with Suntory Sungoliath. Sanix desperately need the win in order to push further up the table as the Blues have had three wins and five losses from their eight games. They may feel they deserve to be better placed but Suntory are going to be very tough opponents to overcome. Undefeated Suntory have had seven wins and a draw so far and with only two points separating them and Sanyo on the top of the table the possibility of heading the table should Sanyo falter against Kubota will be high motivation.

 

 

Round 9 Wrap-up

After nine rounds of the 2009-10 Top League season only Sanyo have collected nine wins. They sit on top of the table on 43 points followed by undefeated Suntory in second place on 41 points from eight wins and a draw. The top three positions remaining unchanged this week with Toshiba on 37 points in third place. These three sides have opened up a gap over the rest of the field with Yamaha and Toyota both on 29 points best placed as they continue their steady rise through the field. Kobe are close behind in sixth place on 26 points while Kubota and Coca-Cola are locked on 21 points. Ricoh are in ninth place on 18 points ahead of Sanix in tenth place on 16 points. They are followed by Kintetsu in eleventh place on 15 points while NEC stay in twelfth place on ten points after their loss to Toyota. Honda are in clear thirteenth place on 6 points and Kyuden sit alone at the bottom off the table on 3 competition points.

 

 

In one of two Saturday games in Round 9, Toyota Verblitz beat NEC Green Rockets 6-3 on home territory in a low scoring tryless game at the Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya. Toyota are steadily improving as the season progresses and with this win they must now be eyeing a final four finish. Sanyo, Suntory and Toshiba are dominating the top three positions but the fourth spot on the table is very open with a number of teams in the hunt. On the other hand, the Rockets sit in twelfth place on the table with just the one win after the first nine rounds and they will have to make the most of the remaining four games. NEC five-eighth Jaco van der Westhuyzen had two opportunities late in the game to steal the match but his attempts at penalty and then drop goal both sailed wide of the mark.

 

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks were at home in Kitakyushu to take on the ever improving Ricoh Black Rams with the Sparks triumphing 29-22. Both sides had four wins and four losses after eight rounds and shared the same 17 points on the table, but the win pushes Coca-Cola into eighth place on the table with Ricoh in ninth. A win for both teams was important to ensure a mid table finish and avoid the prospect of the promotion and relegation play-offs and so Coca-Cola fared the better in this outcome. Ricoh scored three tries to two but it was Shaun Webb that proved the difference in the end scoring 24 of the Coca-Cola points through a try, two conversions and five penalties.

 

Honda Heat went down to Toshiba Brave Lupus 45-19 in the first game of a double header at the Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Ground in Osaka. Although there is still some way to go in the season, the losses are starting to mount up for the Heat and the prospect of relegation is coming to the fore. However, Toshiba as the defending Top League champion are one of the front runners again this year and they had a lot of firepower to call on to aim at Honda as they outscored the Heat seven tries to three. Man-of-the-match in wing Jae-Young Chae was among the try scorers for Toshiba while Honda speedster, wing Akihito Yamada picked up a double. The Brave Lupus notched up their eighth win of the season and this should guarantee they finish high on the table with four rounds to go.

 

In the second game at Hanazono, Kintetsu Liners were at home for the second week in a row to take on Kobe Steelers, though they ended up going down 26-13. The Liners had captain Luke Thompson back at the helm for this encounter and with the sniff of victory late in the game he inspired his side to play down to the wire. With the fulltime siren sounding, Kintetsu were on attack deep in the Kobe half as they probed for a try to turn around a 19-13 deficit, however, spilt ball resulted in Kobe five-eighth Kazuki Kikuchi running away for a bonus point try leaving Kintetsu empty handed. Over the rest of the season, Kobe will have to up the ante if they are to repeat their fourth place finish of last season, while the same can be said for the Liners as they finished ninth in 2008-9. With only four rounds remaining the jostling for positions mid table is set to heat up over the next few weeks.

 

Kubota Spears and Sanyo Wild Knights travelled to Ehime prefecture on the island of Shikoku to play out this round nine clash with the Knights winning 55-28. Sanyo have won all nine of their games and sit two points clear of Suntory on top of the table on 43 points and they retained their top spot at the expense of Kubota. On the other hand, the Spears have now lost three in a row and this should now all but rule them out of a top four finish. The Knights are in devastating form as they look to again go through the rounds undefeated as they did in the 2007-8 season and by the hour mark in this game, Sanyo had scored nine tries, including doubles to wing Tomoki Kitagawa and No8 Koliniasi Ryu Holani and led 55-0. However, over the closing stages the Spears fought back with four tries of their own to earn a valuable bonus point

 

Kyuden Voltex did battle with Yamaha Jubilo in the first game of a double header at the KK Wing Stadium in Kumamoto city, Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu where they came agonisingly close to their first win of the season. Kyuden were leading 19-14 with time all but up on the clock only for flanker Teppei Yagi to run in the third Yamaha try and when fullback Ayumu Goromaru landed the conversion Jubilo grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat with a 21-19 final score line. Kyuden have struggled throughout the 2009-10 season losing all nine games and they currently sit in last place on the table, so they will have to come up with some wins over the remaining four rounds if they are to possibly avoid automatic relegation at the end of the season. However, Yamaha are building up nicely to the end of their season with a top four finish the carrot to keep them motivated. Although Jubilo did not chalk up a bonus point win against Kyuden they tenuously hold onto fourth spot on the table for another week thanks to a better differential over Toyota.

 

In the second game at Kumamoto, Fukuoka Sanix Blues lost to Suntory Sungoliath 46-17 with Suntory scoring seven tries to three. Sanix desperately needed the win in order to push further up the table as the Blues had three wins and five losses before this round, however, Suntory were always going to be very tough opponents to overcome. Undefeated Suntory have had eight wins and a draw so far and with only two points separating them and Sanyo on the top of the table the top spot could well be decided when these two sides meet in the final round. In this game, centre Ryan Nicolas was again among the point scorers for Suntory with a try, four conversions and a penalty.

 

 

2009-10 Japan Rugby Top League Round Nine

 

Team

P

W

L

D

F

A

Diff

BP1

BP2

Pts

1

Sanyo

9

9

0

0

413

131

282

7

-

43

2

Suntory

9

8

0

1

407

123

284

7

-

41

3

Toshiba

9

8

2

0

292

153

139

7

2

37

4

Yamaha

9

5

2

2

244

176

68

3

1

29

5

Toyota

9

6

2

1

217

167

50

3

-

29

6

Kobe

9

5

2

1

196

197

-1

3

1

26

7

Kubota

9

4

5

0

212

235

-23

3

2

21

8

Coca-Cola

9

5

4

0

190

267

-77

1

-

21

9

Ricoh

9

4

5

0

199

265

-66

1

1

18

10

Sanix

9

3

6

0

181

278

-97

2

2

16

11

Kintetsu

9

2

6

1

155

231

-76

3

2

15

12

NEC

9

1

8

0

130

210

-80

1

5

10

13

Honda

9

1

8

0

162

351

-189

1

1

6

14

Kyuden

9

0

9

0

125

339

-214

1

2

3

Four points for win, two for draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2).

The top four finishers qualify for the Microsoft Cup 2010, the finals series for the 2009-10 Top League season.

The top four finishers automatically qualify for the 47th National Championship 2010 with the teams that finish 5th to 10th playing off to determine the final 2 Top League teams.

The bottom two finishers are automatically relegated to regional leagues for the 2010-11 season.

The teams that finish 11th and 12th go through the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to retain their places in Top League for 2010-11.

 

 

Leading Point Scorers

After round nine, Sanyo fullback Atsushi Tanabe holds onto the top spot on the point scorers list with 132 points.

 

Name

Team

T

G

PG

DG

Pts

1

Atsushi Tanabe

Sanyo

2

40

14

-

132

2

Ryan Nicholas

Suntory

3

34

10

-

113

3

Shaun Webb

Coca-Cola

4

13

20

-

106

4

Shane Drahm

Kubota

-

19

13

5

92

5

Ayumu Goromaru

Yamaha

-

22

15

-

89

5

Yoshimitsu Kawano

Ricoh

1

18

14

2

89

7

David Hill

Toshiba

2

28

7

-

87

8

Thinus Delport

Kobe

3

14

4

-

55

8

Tomoki Kitagawa

Sanyo

11

-

-

-

55

10

Tadanobu Ko

Kintetsu

3

8

7

-

52

11

Hirotoki Onozawa

Suntory

10

-

-

-

50

 

Leading Try Scorers

After round nine, Sanyo wing Tomoki Kitagawa leads the list with 11 tries, followed by Suntory wing Hirotoki Onozawa with ten tries.

 

Name

Team

Tries

1

Tomoki Kitagawa

Sanyo

11

2

Hirotoki Onozawa

Suntory

10

3

Yasunori Nagatomo

Suntory

8

3

Go Aruga

Suntory

8

3

Toshiaki Hirose

Toshiba

8

6

Takashi Miyake

Sanyo

7

6

Shinji Nakazono

Yamaha

7

6

Akihito Yamada

Honda

6

9

Yasuhiro Negishi

Kubota

6

9

Neil Brew

Toshiba

6

 

 

Round 9 Man-of-the-match Awards

Date

Teams

Score

Teams

Ground

MOTM

Sat. 5 Dec. 09

Toyota

6-3

NEC

Mizuho, Nagoya

Orene AI’I,

Five-eighth

 

Coca-Cola

29-22

Ricoh

Kitakyushu

Shaun WEBB,

Fullback

Sun. 29 Nov. 09

Honda

19-45

Toshiba

Hanazono, Osaka

Jae-Young Chae,

Wing

 

Kintetsu

13-26

Kobe

Hanazono, Osaka

Hiroshi YAMASHITA,

Prop

 

Kubota

28-55

Sanyo

Ehime

Tony BROWN,

Five-eighth

 

Kyuden

19-21

Yamaha

KK Wing, Kumamoto

Tatsuhiko OTAO,

Five-eighth

 

Sanix

17-46

Suntory

KK Wing, Kumamoto

Ryan NICHOLAS,

Centre

 

 

 

The Grubber Kick

The Grubber Kick brings the reader weekly news shorts, gossip and general happenings from the world of Rugby in Japan.

 

IRB ranking on 30 November 2009 - Japan were 13 (70.59).

 

Backchat:

 

The Draw

The Draw gives the reader future dates for the diary and other great things to look forward to in Rugby in Japan.

 

Sevens

The East Asia Championship was held in Hong Kong in December 2009.