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Israel Folau shines in latest Japan League One action while Ngani Laumape kept in check

(Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)

It was a big weekend for overseas stars in the Japan Rugby League One as ex-pat stars helped guide their clubs to wins.

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In the biggest clash of the weekend between two of the heavyweight clubs, Tokyo Sungoliath and Kobelco Kobe Steelers, the Sungoliath came out on top with a dominant win 39-19.

Former All Black Ngani Laumape, who has been in blistering form in his first season in Japan, was kept largely in check by the Sungoliath defence.

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Kobelco managed four penalties to narrow Sungoliath’s lead to 17-12 but a yellow card to former Blues lock Gerard Cowley Tuioti gave the Tokyo club a one-man advantage which they used to score from a trick lineout play.

A penalty try from a rolling maul essentially sealed the game with a 34-12 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Former Crusaders prodigy and Canterbury product Isaiah Punivai made his debut for the Sungoliath late in the game.

The Springbok-laden Yokohama Canon Eagles continued their rise with a 74-5 hammering of the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners.

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Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk was involved in running a set-piece play to put winger Viriame Takayawa through defence, who linked with Japanese international No 8 Amanaki Mafi for the second try of the game.

Japan’s flyhalf Yu Tumara scored a stunning try after originally threading a grubber kick in behind for Takayawa. The winger combined with Springboks centre Jesse Kriel to keep the ball alive and some smart handling saw Tumara dive over with the last pass.

De Klerk had a long break early in the second half which finished in a try to SP Marias on the next phase as Canon spun the ball to the left.

Jesse Kriel got in on the try-scoring action after fielding a chip kick in behind the defence, while Marias and Mafi grabbed their doubles as the rout continued in the second half.

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Former Wallabies fullback Israel Folau put in a man-of-the-match performance for Urayasu D-Rocks as they comfortably dispatched Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi by 55-16 in division two.

Former Blues playmaker Otere Black scored a well deserved try on a scything run through the Shuttles defence early in the first half to build a solid lead. The No 10 had a try assist late in the first half when he put his scrumhalf over by going up the middle next to a ruck.

Folau burst into the game in the second half when he broke upfield following a scrum play that gave the No 15 some early ball on the flank. The fullback calmly drew the last defender to put his winger over in the corner.

The Tongan international then had one himself after backing up on the inside after two brilliant offloads from the D-Rocks.

The upset of the day came from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars who were able to knock off one of the hottest teams this season, the Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo.

The Brave Lupus, featuring ex-All Blacks Matt Todd and Seta Tamanivalu and Brave Blossoms captain Michael Leitch, raced out to a 12-0 lead and looked to be in for a comfortable victory.

After a hat-trick last week, Fijian-born winger Jone Naikabura continued his blistering pace with another try for the Brave Lupus breaking away from a set-piece.

However, the Dynabours overcame a 12-0 deficit to take the lead at halftime 14-12 and went on to claim a 23-19 victory after three second half penalty goals.

In other division one action, Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay put up a big 40-7 win over the Green Rockets despite missing Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx and with Wallaby flyhalf Bernard Foley on the bench.

Former All Blacks centre Ryan Crotty bagged a try when a wayward Green Rockets pass found him just metres out from the try line. He was able to scoop up and dive over in one motion for one of the easier scores of his career.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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