Suntory end Alex’s Far East adventure
ALEX Goode’s Japanese expedition is over. The England man’s season-long loan deal with NEC came to an end when the Green Rockets were outclassed by the Top League favourites, Suntory Sungoliath, 76-31.
Led by All Black Beauden Barrett, Suntory ran riot scoring 11 tries against an NEC outfit that had only qualified for the second phase in Japan by registering their first win of the season on the opening weekend of elimination play, seven days earlier.
The underdogs, who still scored five tries, including a hat-trick from half-back Daiki Nakijima, virtually conceded the game in the 30th minute when lock Sam Jeffries was sent off for a shoulder charge.
Suntory scored 54 points during the Australian’s absence.
The Ricoh Black Rams
lie in wait for Suntory in the quarter-finals in two weeks’ time after they held off former Bath coach Todd Blackadder’s Toshiba Brave Lupus 2724 at Osaka.
The Black Rams, who are coached by former Melbourne Rebels boss Damien Hill, led 20-5 at half-time, but were forced to withstand a furious late charge from Toshiba before their place in the
next round was confirmed.
Elsewhere, reigning champions the Kobelco Steelers had too much class for the Mitsubishi Dynaboars, easing to a 50-17 win after having been held to a seven-point halftime advantage.
The win was notable for the fifth try in eight matches this season by All Black lock Brodie Retallick. Only two players among Kobe’s all-star line-up have scored more.
The wins by Kobe and the Kubota Spears yesterday set up a re-match of the
2019 title decider, which a Dan Carter-led Kobe won 43-7.
The Spears earned their place in the last eight with a 46-12 win over Yamaha Jubilo at Nagoya.
Frans Ludeke’s team, who have never won the Top League, scored three tries in each half to eliminate a disappointing Jubilo outfit that had reached at least the semi-finals in three of the last four completed seasons.
The day was an historic one for Japanese rugby, bringing the curtain down
one of its most celebrated sons, as Ayumu Goromaru’s journey came to an end. While the 35-year-old didn’t play due to injury, Jubilo’s exit brought his 16year career to a close, after he announced prior to the start of the competition that the 2021 season would be his last.
Goromaru was the face of the ‘Miracle of Brighton’ when Japan beat South Africa 34-32 at the 2015 World Cup, contributing 24 points from a try, two conversions and five penalties. He played 57 Tests for the Cherry Blossoms, making his debut against Uruguay in 2005 while still an amateur, as a student at Waseda University.
Although his international career ended in 2015, the classy full-back later played against Japan, enjoying a 47-27 victory over his countrymen as part of a star-studded World XV in 2017.
A one-club man in Japan, Goromaru’s World Cup heroics led to stints with the Queensland Reds in 2016, and Toulon a year later.