Champions Toshiba Brave Lupus defeated Saitama Wild Knights 42-31 to replace them at the top of the table as Robbie Deans’ side were condemned to back-to-back defeats for the first time in League One history.
After contesting a thrilling 28-28 draw in Kumagaya in February, last year’s League One finalists met again at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo.
The Wild Knights lost their unbeaten record away at Kwagga Smith’s high-flying Shizuoka Blue Revs last week and struggled in Tokyo as Todd Blackadder’s rampant Toshiba ran in four tries in the first half.
Star man Richie Mo’unga showed great hands and awareness to find compatriot Shannon Frizell with a pinpoint offload for the flanker to cross for his fourth try of the campaign after just four minutes.
Saitama fly-half Kyohei Yamasawa, who has made the 10 jersey his own after the summer departure of Rikiya Matsuda to Toyota Verblitz, kicked a penalty to register his team on the scoreboard after eight minutes.
Toshiba hooker Mamoru Hamada found himself in space on the left flank and showed his pace to sprint clear before the half-hour mark.
Prop Yuta Kokaji opened his account for the season as he forced his way to the line to extend the champions’ advantage to 18 points.
Saitama finally reacted and broke Toshiba’s resistance in the 39th minute when Springboks lock Lood de Jager touched down to pull his team back into the contest.
Toshiba continued to threaten the scoreboard in the closing seconds of the half and their commitment was rewarded when scrum-half Yuhei Sugiyama scored his first try of the season for a 28-10 lead at the break.
Replacement Saitama prop Craig Millar drove his way to the line to cut the deficit to 11 points after 49 minutes.
Toshiba and Japan’s inspirational captain Michael Leitch, who at 36 has made the most tackles this season (179), was prominent as Hamada emerged with the ball after a line-out maul and helped himself to a second try before the faultless full-back Takuro Matsunaga added the extras.
Frizell received a yellow card after 63 minutes and Saitama made their numerical advantage count when replacement flanker Itsuki Onishi scored two minutes after the All Black left the field.
Yamasawa kicked the conversion to cut the deficit back to 11 points and set up a fascinating last 15 minutes.
Saitama resorted to desperation and threw the ball away in their own 22 which led to replacement scrum-half Takahiro Ogawa chipping in with his first try of the season. Matsunaga duly converted to nudge Toshiba to an unassailable 42-24 lead with eight minutes remaining.
Frizell returned in the 73rd minute but long-time top-flight leaders Saitama still engineered one final try as they made the scoreline look more respectable after an 81st minute effort from replacement scrum-half Yuta Takagi.
New division one leaders Toshiba host Mie Honda Heat in Hokkaido on Sunday 30 March while twice-beaten Saitama will face an ever-improving Urayasu D-Rocks side in Miyagi next Saturday.
Toshiba (1-15): Sena Kimura, Mamoru Harada, Yuta Kokaji, Jacob Pierce, Warner Dearns, Shannon Frizell, Takeshi Sasaki, Michael Leitch (c),Yuhei Sugiyama, Richie Mo'unga, Yuto Mori, Taichi Mano, Rob Thompson, Jone Naikabula, Takuro Matsunaga
Replacements: Daigo Hashimoto, Masataka Mikami, Taufa Latu, Shohei Ito, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Takahiro Ogawa, Michael Collins, Shohei Toyoshima
Saitama (1-15): Sho Furuhata, Atsushi Sakate (c), Taiki Fujii, Esei Haangana,L ood de Jager Ben Gunter, Shota Fukui, Jack Cornelsen, Taiki Koyama, Kyohei Yamasawa, Marika Koroibete, Damian de Allende, Vince Aso, Koki Takeyama, Ryuji Noguchi
Replacements: Kenji Sato, Craig Millar, Asaeli Ai Valu, Liam Mitchell, Itsuki Onishi, Yuta Takagi, Tomoki Osada, Tom Parton
Pictures courtesy of JRLO
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