Top League: Week 1 Round Up

August 22, 2017
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Ultimate Rugby

The 2017/18 Japanese Top League kicked off this past weekend with some closely fought matches.

Black Ram's started their season off with a victory over Shining Arcs. Tamati Ellison scored 12 of Black Rams 17 points while Shota Yamamoto and Amanaki Lelei Mafi both crossed the line for their respective sides. Full time score: 17-13

Kobelco Steelers scored 5 tries against the Red Hurricanes to secure their first victory (39-16) of the season. Former All Black Andy Ellis scored a hat-trick for the home side while Cody Rei converted 6 of his 7 kicks at goal.

Toyota Verblitz and Yamaha Jubilo were only separated by 3 points when the final whistle was blown. The two sides played in front of 27 871 fans, which is a record in the league. Jubilo won the match 11-14, in the end, thanks to tries from Gerhard van Den Heever and Chikara Ito.

The reigning Champions showed off their new signings in their opening match of the season with Wallabies legends Matt Giteau and George Smith starting against the Canon Eagles.

Suntory ran in five tries in a 32-5 win over Canon Eagles at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground with last season’s MVP Takaaki Nakazuru touching down twice.

Shunta Nakamura, George Smith and Daishi Murata also bagged five pointers while Kosei Ono weighed in with two conversions and a penalty goal for Suntory.

Suntory Sungoliath lock Joe Wheeler with a top quality assist 👌🏻😂 #TopLeague #SuntorySungoliath #JapanRugby

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The closest game of the round played out between Liners and Shuttles. Yasumasa Shigemitsu slotted a last minute drop goal to win the match 13-12.

A violent thunder and lightning storm disrupted the Brave Lupus and Green Rockets with the second half being heavily delayed. The action eventually resumed 90 minutes later.

Brave Lupus seemed more comfortable in the conditions as they scored 2 tries on their way to 20-0 victory.

The final of match on Saturday between Spears and Wild Knights was delayed due to the weather but the two sides provided an attacking game that was well worth the wait.

Shunsuke Nunomaki, Berrick Barnes, Ryu Koliniasi Holani, Keisuke Moriya, Kenki Fukuoka and Akihito Yamada all crossed the white wash with Barnes also adding five conversions and a penalty as the Wild Knights ran away with the game in the second half to win 45-21.

The Spears got tries from Grant Hattingh, Lionel Mapoe and Hideto Kondo with Hideyuki Moriwaki kicking two conversions and Kazuhiro Goya adding the extras to Kondo’s five-pointer.

Sanix Blues came out firing on Sunday as hooker, and eventual man of the match, Yasunori Hoshimoto scored two tries within the first 12 minutes.

The Blues continued to dominate the match despite Red Sparks best efforts. Sanix Blues finished the match 38-22 victors in front of 3,103 fans at Fukuoka’s Level 5 Stadium.

See the highlights from all the matches and the next round of fixtures HERE