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All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks stars shine in opening round of Top League
By Sam Smith
All Blacks star Beauden Barrett has kicked-off his Top League career in fine fashion, scoring a try and eight conversions to help guide Suntory Sungoliath to a 75-7 thumping of Mitsubishi Dynaboars in Minami-Ku.
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Barrett’s 21-point haul on debut was eclipsed by teammate and fellow Kiwi Tevita Li, though, with the former Blues and Highlanders wing notching five of his side’s 11 tries at Sagamihara Gion Stadium.
Li, who revealed his ambitions to play for Japan over the weekend, was the undoubted star of the show, stealing his fair share of the limelight off Barrett who finally made his long-awaited first appearance in the Top League.
The two-time World Rugby Player of the Year looked more than comfortable at first-five for Suntory, taking on the Mitsubishi defence multiple times and putting teammates outside of him into space regularly.
Many of Li’s tries wouldn’t have come without Barrett’s playmaking inside of him, but the former can now boast an incredible strike rate of 11 tries in just six matches since joining Suntory ahead of the 2020 Top League.
Former Wallabies midfielder Samu Kerevi also proved to be a menace for Suntory, as he bagged a try himself to pile misery on the likes of former All Blacks pair Jackson Hemopo and Colin Slade, who was on debut for Mitsubishi after joining from Pau.
Former Blues and Sunwolves midfielder grabbed the only try for the Dynaboars early in the first half, but it was one-way traffic from there as Suntory propelled themselves to top spot of the Red Conference after the opening round of the season.
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They are joined there by NTT Communications Shining Arcs, who were led to a 41-13 victory over Honda Heat by debutant halves pairing Greig Laidlaw and Fletcher Smith and former Wallabies flanker Liam Gill, and Kubota Spears.
Laidlaw, the ex-Scotland captain and British and Irish Lions halfback, nabbed a try and scored a total of 12 points, while Smith, formerly of the Highlanders and Hurricanes, also scored a try and two conversions.
Gill added a try himself to place the Shining Arcs just below Suntory on points difference.
Kubota, meanwhile, cruised to a 43-17 win over Munakata Sanix Blues in Narita. Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx and former Wallabies playmaker Bernard Foley led the way with a collective total of three tries and 28 points.
In the same conference, Wallabies captain Michael Hooper got his Top League sabbatical to a winning start, coming off the bench for Toyota Verblitz to play an important role in closing out a 34-33 win over Toshiba Brave Lupus in Nagoya.
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The speed of the Top League games can be something else! https://t.co/5XDZZoauEF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 22, 2021
Hooper won his side an important turnover near the end of the match as they narrowly held off Toshiba from completing a mighty comeback, with the Brave Lupus trailing 27-7 early in the second half.
That match featured a raft of familiar names, as former All Blacks captain Kieran Read and Springboks fullback Willie le Roux started for Toyota, while Japan captain Michael Leitch, ex-All Blacks flanker Matt Todd and former All Blacks centre Seta Tamanivalu (on debut) all scored for Toshiba.
In the White Conference, juggernauts Panasonic Wild Knights and Yamaha Jubilo made early statements, picking up 55-14 and 52-17 victories over Ricoh Black Rams and Hino Red Dolphins, respectively.
Welsh midfielder Hadleigh Parkes and English lock George Kruis both made their debuts for Panasonic, with the latter joining Japanese World Cup star Kenki Fukuoa on the score sheet.
Former All Blacks halfback Agustine Pulu, meanwhile, scored two of Hino’s three tries as they crumbled in front of their home fans in Osaka.
Top League chairman Osamu Ota has joined other leading rugby bosses in throwing support behind the concept of a Club World Cup.https://t.co/XEqXGTEO6N
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 20, 2021
Elsewhere, current All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara got off to winning ways in his first appearance for NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, scoring a try in the first competitive match of his sabbatical to help secure a 26-24 win over Jesse Kriel’s Canon Eagles.
In the only other match of the weekend, reigning champions Kobelco Steelers were given a good run for their money by NEC Green Rockets, who took the game to their All Blacks-laden opponents in a 47-38 defeat at Hanazono Rugby Stadium.
Former New Zealand international Ben Smith scored a try on debut from the right wing, as did Brave Blossoms stars Tim Lafaele and Isileli Nakajima, while lock Brodie Retallick was sent to the sin bin after half an hour of play.
No. 8 Lui Naeta and wing Rakuhei Yamashita both added a brace of tries to deny ex-England international and NEC playmaker Alex Goode victory in his first Top League showing.
NTT Communications Shining Arcs 41 (Tries to Fletcher Smith, Chang Yonghueng, Greig Laidlaw, Liam Gill, Atsushi Yumoto, Hiroyuki Mezaki; 2 conversions and penalty to Laidlaw, 2 conversions to Smith; yellow card to Jimmy Tupou)
Honda Heat 13 (Try to Masaki Fujisaki; conversion and 2 penalties to Pak Song-gi)
Toyota Verblitz 34 (Tries to Jamie Henry, Willie le Roux, Fetuani Lautaimi and Taichi Takahashi; 4 conversions and 2 penalties to Lionel Cronje)
Toshiba Brave Lupus 33 (Tries to Matt Todd, Seta Tamanivalu, Jack Stratton, Sione Lavemai and Michael Leitch; 2 conversions to Takahiro Ogawa, 2 conversions to Hayato Nakao)
Kobelco Steelers 47 (Tries to Isileli Nakajima, Lui Naeta (2), Tim Lafaele, Rakuhei Yamashita (2) and Ben Smith; 6 conversions to Hayden Parker; yellow card to Brodie Retallick)
NEC Green Rockets 38 (Tries to Ryoi Kamei (2), Bernhard Janse van Rensburg, Daiki Nakajima, Ryuta Iiyama and Rikiya Oishi; 4 conversions to Alex Goode)
Kubota Spears 43 (Tries to Bernard Foley, Takeo Suenaga, Malcolm Marx (2), Finau Tupa, Sione Teaupa; 5 conversions and penalty to Bernard Foley)
Munakata Sanix Blues 17 (Tries to Tim Bennetts, Yuta Imamura and Kohei Hamazato; conversion to Hiroshi Tashiro; yellow cards to Tashiro and Jarrad Adams)
Panasonic Wild Knights 55 (Tries to Shunsuke Nunomaki, Keisuke Uchida, Shota Fukui, Kenki Fukuoka, Itsuki Onishi and Hadleigh Parkes; 7 conversions and 2 penalties to Rikiya Matsuda)
Ricoh Black Rams 14 (2 tries to Keegan Faria; 2 conversions to Matt McGahan; yellow card to Hinata Takei)
Hino Red Dolphins 17 (Tries to Sho Kataoka and Augustine Pulu (2); conversion to Gillies Kaka; yellow card to Dinesvaran Krishnan)
Yamaha Jubilo 52 (Tries to Hironori Yatomi, Fred Fewtrell (3), Sam Greene and Malo Tuitama (3); 5 conversions to Greene, conversion to Syoh Kiyohara; yellow card to Uwe Helu)
Mitsubishi Dynaboars 7 (Try to Michael Little; conversion by Colin Slade)
Suntory Sungoliath 75 (Tries to Samu Kerevi, Yutaka Nagare, Tevita Li (5), Beauden Barrett, Tevita Tatafu, Shogo Nakano and Seiya Ozaki; 8 conversions to Barrett, 2 conversions to Hikaru Tamura)
Canon Eagles 24 (Tries to Hosea Saumaki, Jesse Kriel and Ryota Yasui; 2 conversions and penalty to Yu Tamura, conversion to Jumpei Ogura; yellow card to Jan de Klerk)
NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes 26 (Tries to TJ Perenara, Jiyoung Lee and Kouk Shigeno; conversion and 3 penalties to Ei Kawamukou)
