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Israel Folau's Shining Arcs fall to defeat against Kubota Spears

(Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Former Wallabies star Israel Folau has failed to keep his unbeaten return to rugby union alive as his Shining Arcs side fell to defeat against the Kubota Spears on Saturday.

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Fresh after his man-of-the-match performance in his side’s season-opening win over the Kobelco Kobe Steelers last Saturday, Folau was impressive but had his attacking output limited by Kubota in a scrappy Tokyo derby.

The fixture was plagued by handling errors as neither team could capitalise on the good field position they often worked themselves into, with Kubota prevailing by a scoreline of 19-9.

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Only one try was scored throughout the entirety of the fixture, with Tongan blindside flanker Finau Tupa crashing over from a well-worked lineout move.

Kubota could well have landed the decisive blow about 10 minutes from full-time when first-five Timoshi Kishioka, who started at No 10 in place of ex-Wallabies pivot Bernard Foley, picked off a Shining Arcs pass on his own 22 metre mark.

Kishioka didn’t have the pace to canter in from 80 metres out, though, as South African midfielder Shane Gates chopped him down in a firm tackle at the opposite 22.

The visitors then had another chance to score in the dying minutes of the game as their forward pack stamped their authority over their Shining Arcs counterparts.

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However, the boot of South African fullback Gerhard van den Heever guided them safety as he added 14 points from the tee to outscore his goal-kicking opposite Otere Black.

As such, Kubota – whose standouts included Kishioka and Brave Blossoms flanker Lappies Labuschagne – have rocketed to the summit of the League One top division standings.

Their rise up the table comes after they were awarded an automatic bonus-point victory as a result of their cancelled season-opener against the Saitama Wild Knights due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the opposition squad last week.

By contrast, the Shining Arcs remain in sixth place ahead of next week’s home clash against the Green Rockets Tokatsu. Kubota, meanwhile, will travel to Kobe to take on the seventh-placed Steelers.

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Kubota Spears 19 (Try to Finau Tupa; conversion and 4 penalties to Gerhard van den Heever)

Shining Arcs 9 (3 penalties to Otere Black)

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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