Mo’unga and Frizell’s Toshiba edge past Cane’s Suntory

League One champions Toshiba Brave Lupus outfought Suntory Sungoliath to win the Fuchu derby at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Saturday.

The marquee clash between the local rivals and two of Japan’s powerhouse teams produced a thrilling 76-point encounter as hosts Toshiba prevailed 43-33.

Former All Blacks captain Sam Cane was restored to the Suntory line-up for the first time since the opening round on 21 December when he sustained a concussion.  

Cane was upstaged by his compatriots and ex-international colleagues Richie Mo’unga and Shannon Frizell.

The champions took the lead for the first time after eight minutes when replacement loose-forward Yoshitaka Tokunaga bounced off a few defenders including an overmatched Ryosuke Kawase.

Suntory replied almost immediately when captain Yutaka Nagare scanned what was in front of him and kicked over the top to find Seiya Ozaki in space and the wing played the ball inside for number eight Ryuga Hashimoto to cross.

Japan wing Jone Naikabula, Ozaki’s opposite number and one such player in front of the Suntory man in the Brave Blossoms pecking order, weaved his way inside from the touchline and jinked his way past five Suntory players to score his seventh try of the campaign. 

The Fiji-born speedster was just warming up as he showcased his scintillating finishing ability when Toshiba elected to run the ball from deep inside their own half and scrum-half Sugiyama found full-back Takuro Matsunaga who floated the ball to Naikabula who raced through to put his team in command with a 19-8 lead after 24 minutes.

Suntory closed the gap when replacement centre Hideto Niguma marked his first appearance of the season by clawing his way over the line to cut the deficit to four points.

Last season’s Rookie of The Year winner Mikiya Takamoto added a penalty to bring Kosei Ono’s side back into the game with Toshiba’s lead down to a single point.

Toshiba opened up as the half drew to a close and scored two late tries to take a firm grip of the fascinating encounter.

Ex-All Blacks centre Seta Tamanivalu produced a sumptuous no-look pass to find Richie Mo’unga who selflessly let Matsunaga walk over the line.

Tamanivalu’s midfield partner, former Highlanders centre Rob Thompson impressed again with some big carries before his compatriot Mo’unga beat three players for his fourth try of the season.

The hosts went into the break leading 31-18 and visitors Suntory desperately needed to score the first points in the second half.

Kawase showed his attacking ability when he found space and charged down the right flank to cross after narrowly winning the footrace with the onrushing Naikabula. Takamoto missed the conversion from the touchline to leave his team chasing an eight-point deficit but with 30 minutes left on the clock.

Suntory centre Isaiah Punivai grabbed his third try of the season after Sam Cane, who was smothered by Thompson, provided the offload to the former who powered home. Takamoto added the extra two points to make it a one-point game.

Toshiba battled for possession and territory after shipping two early tries in the second half.  

Hard-working Japanese veteran Nagare, who was at the heart of everything positive for the visitors, was withdrawn after 57 minutes with summer acquisition and former Toyota scrum-half Kenta Fukuda on to provide some fresh impetus for the final quarter.

Toshiba went down to 14 men when Frizell was given a yellow card for making head contact in a tackle with Suntory camped out five metres from the try line.

Cane left the field after 63 minutes to a warm reaction from the Suntory faithful with Kai Yamamoto on in his place.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Toshiba showed their quality by keeping Suntory at bay while Frizell was off the field and had a try disallowed when Tamanivalu lost the ball in the tackle just inches short of the line.

Toshiba finally scored their first points of the half in the 70th minute when Thompson came onto the ball at pace and drove up the middle of the field to dot down between the posts. Matsunaga converted to extend his side’s advantage to eight points with nine minutes remaining.

Takamoto kicked a penalty from in front of the posts to steer the visitors to within a converted try of capturing the lead.

Toshiba put the result beyond doubt after a line-out maul saw replacement hooker Daigo Hashimoto emerge with the ball and cross after 76 minutes to extend their lead to 10 points. Matsunaga failed to add the extra two points.

Try scorer Thompson earned Player of the Match with a tenacious display and received a warm embrace from captain Michael Leitch after the on-field presentation.

Suntory team (1-15): Kenta Kobayashi, Alex Mafi (League One debut), Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Sam Jeffries, Harry Hockings, Kanji Shimokawa, Sam Cane, Ryuga Hashimoto, Yutaka Nagare (c), Mikiya Takamoto, Taiga Ozaki, Shogo Nakano, Isaiah Punivai, Seiya Ozaki, Ryosuke Kawase

Replacements: Tatsuya Miyazaki, Yukio Morikawa, Kan Nakano, Trevor Hosea, Kai Yamamoto, Kenta Fukuda, Keisuke Moriya, Hideto Niguma

Toshiba team (1-15): Sena Kimura, Mamoru Harada, Yuta Kokaji, Shohei Ito, Jacob Pierce, Shannon Frizell, Takeshi Sasaki, Michael Leitch (c), Yuhei Sugiyama, Richie Mo’unga, Yuto Mori, Rob Thompson, Seta Tamanivalu, Jone Naikabula, Takuro Matsunaga Replacements: Daigo Hashimoto, Teruo Makabe, Taufa Latu, Samuela Anise, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Kohei Takahashi, Taichi Mano, Michael Collins