Dramatic Final Finale in Tokyo
It was the only missed kick of the match, and so Toshiba – despite scoring four tries to three – lost the match and yet again it was the unerring left boot of Hayden Parker that made the difference.
It was a thrilling match for packed Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo. The result meant that the Wild Knights retained their title for the third time, but what drama. Those last two minutes are worth looking at.
Brave Lupus held up a Wild Knights maul in their own half and so were given the scrum. The scrum had just been awarded when the final siren sounded. The scrum went ahead. Richard Kahui broke past JP Pietersen and gave to Frans Steyn on his left. The big fullback raced over 30 metres towards an open line but was tackled from behind by Tomoki Kitagwa.
Brave Lupus kept the ball and gave to Kahui in the flyhalf position. He kicked a high diagonal towards his right. The ball bounced high on the threadbare surface and substitute Shohei Toyoshima got the ball and fell to ground for the try. All Brave Lupus were delighted but the Wild Knights led 27-26 with the kick to come.
Steyn missed the kick, to the glee of all the Wild Knights. The score stayed 27-26.
As Brave Lupus scored in the dying minutes, so the Wild Knights scored in the opening minutes.
It was a match of few penalties – just seven in all. The Wild Knights kicked the first penalty out for an attacking line-out which they mauled to the line. They bashed and Fumiaki Tanaka gave a perfect pass to burly Tadusuke Nishara who burst over for a try well in. Parker converted. 7-0 after 3 minutes.
In the match scrums and line-outs went mainly – not always – with the throw-in but there were times when Brave Lupus surprised their opponents at the tackle.
Brave Lupus put pressure on the Wild Knights who tried to run out of their 22 in vain. From a scrum, Brave Lupus went left and then right and then impressive Michael Leitch beat three defenders to score at the posts. Scrumhalf Takahiro Ogawa converted. 7-7 after 7 minutes.
Brave Lupus attacked and then won a line-out and mauled. It started slowly but in the end it had momentum and they ran it over the Wild Knights line for a try by Kotaki Hiroshi. Again Ogawa converted. 14-7 to Brave Lupus after 18 minutes.
There was almost a try to the Wild Knights when Kotaro Kodama dashed for the line with Leitch to tackle him. He grounded the ball in the right corner. The referee had a discussion with his assistant and awarded the try, but replays suggested that a Kodama foot was out before he grounded the ball.
The TMO contacted the referee just before the conversion was taken and the referee then consulted the TMO and it was clear that Kodama's left foot was in touch before he grounded the ball.
This led to a five-metre line-out to Brave Lupus which was followed by a second. The second time the Wild Knights did not contest and were awarded a scrum for accidental offside. From the scrum, they bashed and hooker Shota Horie burst over and round for a try at the posts. 14-14 after 25 minutes.
Just before half-time Parker slotted a penalty and the Wild Knights led 17-14.
A clever Tanaka kick led to a five-metre scrum for the Wild Knights. They bashed and were over but were held up. But they were on the attack and the referee played a long advantage at the scrum before penalising Brave Lupus. Parker made it 20-14 after 48 minutes.
Yet another chip kick by Steyn led to a Wild Knights counter and break by Tanaka. He gave to Horie who was tackled but got the ball to Pietersen who scored in the left corner. Parker converted and it was 27-14 with 19 minutes to play.
The Wild Knights were sitting pretty. Brave Lupus had not scored for 53 playing minutes.
From a scrum Brave Lupus built an attack with excellent handling and an inside pass to Frenchman Nicolas Kraska sent him hurtling for a try at the posts. 27-21. Another clever kick by Tanaka on the right led to a five-metre scrum to the Wild Knights but Brave Lupus won the only tighthead of the match and survived.
Then came to dramatic ending and silver medals for Brave Lupus, gold again for the Wild Knights.
Scorers:
For Wild Knights:
Tries: Nishara, Hori, Pietersen
Cons: Parker 3
Pens: Parker 2
For Brave Lupus:
Tries: Leitch, Hiroshi, Kraska, Toyoshima
Cons: Ogawa 3
Teams:
Wild Knights: 15 Tasutaka Sasakura, 14 Tomoki Kitagwa, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Yasuki Hayashi, 11 Kotaro Kodama, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryukoliniasi Holani, 7 Tadusuke Nishara, 6 Youngnam You, 5 Daniel Heenan, 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Naoki Kawamata, 2 Shota Horie (captain), 1 Kanita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Tatsuhiko Muroi, 17 Jungo Kikawa, 18 Ryusioapelatu Holani, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Shumsuke Nonomake, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Berrick Barnes, 23 Akihito Yamade.
Brave Lupus: 15 Francois Steyn, 14 Toshiaki Hirose, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Keisuke Masuda, 11 Shuhei Oshima, 10 Yoshikaza Morita (captain), 9 Takahiro Ogawa, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Hiroshi Yamamoto, 6 Kotaki Hiroshi, 5 Naohuro Kotaki, 4 Kyosuke Kajikawa, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Hirohi Yuhara, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements: 16 Tomohiro Kubo, 17 Futoshi Mori, 18 Yu Chinen, 19 Keisuke Matsuda, 20 Hitoshi Ono, 21 Jun Fujii, 22 Nicola Kraska, 23 Shohei Toyoshima.
Referee: Kyusuke Toda
Assistant referees: Akihisa Aso, Ryuta Kudo
