Springboks and All Blacks stars stun Cheslin Kolbe-less Suntory as Manie Libbok suffers first Japanese defeat
Springboks Manie Libbok and Lukhanyo Am.
Suntory Sungoliath suffered a shock 34-15 defeat to the Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars in their rescheduled Japan Rugby League One fixture at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
Springboks star Cheslin Kolbe was rested for the match, but Suntory still boasted the likes of All Black Sam Cane and Wallaby Sean McMahon in their matchday 23.
Dynaboars fly-half Shun Miyake was the star of the show, scoring a first-half hat-trick and all of his team’s points as they raced out to a 22-5 lead.
Am and Weber star for Dynaboars
He was ably assisted by former Chiefs and All Blacks scrum-half Brad Weber and World Cup-winning Springboks centre Lukhanyo Am, who steered the club to just their third win of the season.
Miyake, who was born in Kobe, finished his secondary education at the prestigious Christs’ College in New Zealand and played three seasons in the first XV before he advanced into the Canterbury and Crusaders development systems.
This led to appearances for both Tasman (three) and Canterbury (17) in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship, including seven last year as Canterbury stormed to the title, with Miyake coming from the bench in their 36-28 win over Otago in the final.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a stunning display on Saturday against Suntory, putting his nightmare of last Sunday behind him where he missed four of his shots at goal in a two-point defeat to Toyota Verblitz. It took just two minutes for the playmaker to grab his first try of the game and built on his team’s lead, adding two conversions, a penalty goal and a further two five-pointers.
Sungoliath’s only response in the opening period came from the former Chiefs and Maori All Blacks centre Gideon Wrampling, who marked his debut with a try 24 minutes into his League One career.
Although Sungoliath scored first after the break, with veteran winger Seiya Ozaki following up on his hat-trick from last week with his fifth try of the season, there was to be no comeback as the Dynaboars added the four-try bonus point when hooker Seunghyuk Lee scored with 14 minutes remaining.
Even when Brave Blossoms second rower Epineri Uluiviti was red-carded with a minute left, Sagamihara found a response with Am’s second try of the season to seal an impressive 19-point win.
The result sees the Dynaboars jump out of the relegation zone and into 10th place, swapping positions with Urayasu D-Rocks. Meanwhile, Sungoliath remain in the top four, but they are now 10 points adrift of the Saitama Wild Knights in third.
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Libbok tastes defeat
Meanwhile, Manie Libbok and Peter Umaga-Jensen inspired a late rally in Division Two, but their efforts were in vain as the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners suffered their first defeat of the season, falling to a 30-22 defeat at the hands of Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves.
The Seawaves charged to a 20-7 half-time lead with ex-Highlanders and Crusaders pivot Mitch Hunt converting both of his team’s tries as well as two penalties.
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Libbok and Umaga-Jensen attempted to inspire the comeback with the former creating opportunities and the latter punching through gaps and even running over Hunt in the build-up to a try. The Liners grabbed three second-half tries but two Seawaves’ tries shut them out to secure just their sixth home win in five years.
Meanwhile, the Hino Red Dolphins remain winless after a 48-10 defeat by the Greg Cooper-coached Green Rockets Tokatsu, which consolidated the latter’s hold on fourth position on the championship ladder.
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