Top League Round 2 Round Up
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The Top League's second round got underway today with The Ricoh Black Rams kicking off the first match against Yamaha Jubilo. The Black Rams took an early lead in the match and made sure to get some good points on the board before halftime.
.@RICOH_BlackRams hold on to beat @yamaha_rugby 23-22.
Tries for 2 young Japanese players to keep an eye on - fullback Taira Main and hooker Hinata Takei.
Man of the match goes to Matt Lucas.#rugbyjp #TopLeague pic.twitter.com/LOoF2PN0VG— Rich Freeman (@FreemanrugbyJPN) February 28, 2021
They seemed to have a win in the bag this time as the game progressed. Yamaha Jubilo had other ideas though and put on a huge comeback nearer to the end of the match! With two minutes to go, it was a one-point match with Jubilo only being just behind their visitors. With only mere minutes left, Jubilo were not able to get those much-needed points to take the lead and Ricoh Black Rams took the victory, 22-23!
The NTT Communications Shining Arcs fell 29 - 47 against Toyota Verblitz. Four tries for Shining Arcs by Kai Ishii, Zhang Yongxing, Willie Britz and Toloke Michael, as well as 1 penalty and 2 conversions by G. Laidlaw and a conversion by F. Smith. Seven tries for Toyota Verblitz by Takahashi, R. Thompson, K. Hikosaka, Henry Jamie, Joji Sato, An Yoshida and Taketo Yurikawa as well as 2 penalties and 3 conversions by L. Cronje. A well-played and disciplined game with a lot of action. Bonus point to Verblitz giving them a total of 5 points for the win.
Michael Hooper gets the better of Liam Gill as Toyota Verblitz beat NTT Comms 47-29
— Rich Freeman (@FreemanrugbyJPN) February 28, 2021
Lui Naeata crosses 5 times as Kobe Steel hammer Canon 73-10
Panasonic 60 (Yamasawa 23 pts) Hino 12
Suntory 31 (Saito 2 tries) Honda 14#TopLeague #rugbyjp pic.twitter.com/NGXXMzuED0
Wild Knights recorded a 60 - 12 win against the Red Dolphins. A really tough game for Red Dolphins up against a strong team. Two tries for them by Parker Ash and Hashimoto, with 1 conversion by Gillies Kaka. Nine tries for Wild knights by Semisi Tupou, Koki Takeyama x 2, Takuya Yamasawa x 2, Shota Fukui x 2, Ryota Hasegawa, and Ryuji Noguchi, as well as 1 conversion by R. Matsuda and 1 penalty and 5 conversions by T. Yamasawa. Bonus point to Wild Knights giving them a 5 point win.
Honda Heat Vs Suntory Sungoliath was an outstanding game.The score does not truly reflect the hard work that was needed by Suntory Goliath in order to take the victory today against Honda Heat. The first half started in favour of Heat briefly but a yellow card to Duffie completely changed the momentum and Suntory decided to capitalise on that numerical advantage. In the ten minutes of Duffie being in the sin bin, Suntory scored two tries and just managed to sneak one in before the halftime break as well. This set them up nicely for the second half but Heat didn't want them to take the win that easily. They fought hard and only suffered with unforced errors that plagued a portion of their match today. Suntory were simply too classy though and took a well-deserved victory, 14-31!
Kobe Kobelco Steelers recorded seventy-three points on the board with eleven try's and nine converted try's and two missed conversions and Canon Eagles with ten points on the board with one try and one conversion, one penalty converted and one missed penalty. The match was held at the Kobe Universidade Memorial Stadium.
