Yokohama Canon Eagles, led by Springboks centre Jesse Kriel, achieved a 50-26 victory over Japan Rugby League One champions Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo. The win keeps the Eagles’ hopes alive of avoiding the post-season relegation series. For Toshiba Brave Lupus, the defeat puts pressure on their play-off qualification hopes.
Eagles Soar as Mo’unga Sits Out
The Eagles overcame an early try from ex-Crusaders hooker Andrew Makalio to secure an eight-try-to-four victory. The team has now recorded four wins in their last six matches after this turnaround. In December, Todd Blackadder’s men had defeated the Eagles 41-19.
Toshiba Brave Lupus conceded three tries in a ten-minute period either side of half-time. This occurred while All Blacks fly-half Richie Mo’unga was in the sin bin. The scoring spree included the second try of the match for Eagles skipper Jesse Kriel. While Mo’unga was off the pitch, the score went from 14-5 to 33-5.
Play-off Picture Tightens
The Eagles are now seven points ahead of 11th-placed Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars. Next, they face Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars. Avoiding defeat in that match would complete what once seemed an unlikely escape from the relegation series.
Elsewhere, Shizuoka BlueRevs moved up to eighth place. This confirms Urayasu D-Rocks’ participation in the end-of-season promotion/relegation series. The top six teams remain unchanged with two weeks of the regular season left.
Toyota Verblitz, coached by former All Blacks boss Steve Hansen, defeated BlackRams Tokyo 40-28. This victory puts them within reach of a play-off position. Toyota Verblitz took advantage of a yellow card to BlackRams centre Yuta Kurihara early in the second half, scoring two tries during his absence.
All Black winger Mark Telea scored his sixth try of the season to put Toyota ahead. However, a try by his ex-Test teammate TJ Perenara contributed to the BlackRams’ response, levelling the score at 14-14 at half-time. Although Isaac Lucas put the BlackRams ahead after the restart, the yellow card shortly after allowed Toyota to take the lead.
Wallaby back-rower Liam Gill scored while Toyota’s Ryusei Koike was in the sin bin, briefly bringing the Black Rams back on terms. However, Toyota responded with a try of their own four minutes later.
Seventh-placed Toyota Verblitz can still influence the play-offs with their recent victory.