Rugby Sevens coming to Tokyo

On Sunday, I made a final visit to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium as Top League Rugby was finishing its season with two interesting matches. As a quick refresher, the league has 14 teams who play each other once. The top 4 make the playoffs while the bottom 2 are sent to a lower league. Other squads have post-season games as well, either to make the All-Japan Championship or to avoid being relegated.

The first tilts featured first-place Suntory Sungoliath taking on 6th-ranked Kobelco Steelers, who needed a victory to make the playoffs. Sadly for them, a late Suntory try led to a 32-28 final, allowing the Sungoliath to finish first with a sparkling 12-1 record. It was the best rugby match I have seen in this league, with several lead changes and lots of hard hitting. There's nothing like sitting close to the field in rugby and hearing the sound of bodies colliding without the protection of shoulder pads or other equipment. Interestingly, the Steelers were dressed in red, while the Sungoliath were in yellow and black.

A penalty goal for Steelers

The second game promised to be equally entertaining as third-place Toshiba Brave Lupus were taking on last year's champs, the second-ranked Panasonic Wild Knights. These two teams were had won the last three championships as you can see above.

However, with playoff spots already decided, this game had little meaning as the two squads would meet in a semi-final two weeks hence. With no advantage accruing to the 2nd-place finisher, Panasonic seemed happy to avoid injury and were hammered 59-25. That is a Panasonic try below, scored when the game was still relatively close. This article summarizes the days events rather well.

Chichibunomiya is my favourite stadium in Japan, because you can sit so close for two games, at just 1,500 yen. There's no bench to separate you from the action and no screen to mar the view. Sitting near the try line is the best as that is where the real hard-hitting action takes place, as you can see below. I will miss this place.

The Top League playoffs happen while I am out of town, but I'll post an update here.

Now on to the bigger news: Rugby Sevens is coming to Tokyo! This is the tour that features teams of 7 men rather than the usual 15 you see in rugby union. It has long been a fixture in Hong Kong among other locales, but hasn't been in Tokyo since 2001. Games are fast-paced and last just 15 minutes, so over the weekend (March 31 and April 1) there will be 44 matches. I'm hoping to attend one day as I've never seen it live before and have heard nothing but good things. It is supposed to be great fun for the fans with lots of crazy antics, but I'm not sure how the Japanese will react.

Next Up

I'm flying to LA tonight, an overnight flight from Haneda. I get there too late to see something, but will start the sports watching with an NBDL game on Wednesday. As always, check back regularly for updates.

Best,

Sean

Read More

Top League Rugby Doubleheader - November 27, 2010

I'm going to stop posting detailed recaps of games I see where there is nothing new to report. For example, this past weekend I went to a Top League Rugby doubleheader which was completely uneventful.

I saw a couple of games in this league last year, and had found it somewhat entertaining, so was looking to make a return visit. A friend of mine had expressed interest as well, so I invited him along last weekend to attend what would be my final sporting event in Japan this year.

The league had been on a month-long respite, perhaps due to the recently completed Asian Games, and it showed. In the first match between Toyota Verblitz and Ricoh Black Rams, dropped passes and missed chances were the name of the game. It was not particularly good rugby, although the game was close at least, with Toyota pulling out a 29-26 win on a Stephen Yates try with 8 minutes to go. Despite the tight score, it was simply not that compelling as there were so many stoppages and penalties that the game never developed a good flow.

Below is Toyota's Orene Aii of New Zealand dodging several Black Rams.

The final score with Shinjuku behind

Before the second game between Suntory Sungoliath and NEC Communications Shining Arcs, I checked the standings and saw that Suntory led the league in scoring while NEC had only notched 12 tries in their 7 games. I expected a blowout and that's what we got. Suntory took the kickoff and systematically marched to a try in just 90 seconds. Five minutes later they did the same and the rout was one, with the final score being 50-14. Fortunately the weather was beautiful but that was about the only positive on the afternoon. Below is Suntory in yellow, #20 is one-time Australian captain George Gregan who was a reserve on this day.

The upshot is I probably won't see too many more games in the Top League. It is a bargain at 1,500 yen but the quality isn't good enough to keep me coming back.

Next Up

I'm off to Canada in two days. After a night in Toronto, I fly to Minneapolis where I'll see three games all featuring cellar dwellers. Then I fly to Cleveland where I do a LeBron James special - rent a car and drive it one way to Miami. Along the way, my sports-viewing talents will stop in Columbus, Morgantown WV, Pittsburgh, Washington, Charlotte, and Jacksonville. It should be a strange trip but a lot of fun, so check back regularly over the next couple of weeks.

Best,

Sean

Read More

Japan Top League Rugby Doubleheader - Match Day 13 - January 9, 2010

The Top League Rugby season consists of 13 match days, as each of the 14 teams plays each other just once. Yesterday was the final match day as teams fought for playoff positioning. Once again, Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium was the site of a doubleheader, and with the weather crisp and clear, it was a good chance to start of another year of sports watching.

Game 1 - NEC Green Rockets 29 Yahama Jublio 17

The first game featured a couple of teams in the middle of the table. NEC was in 11th spot and was in danger of having to play in the promotion/relegation playoffs, in which the 11th and 12th placed teams play teams from the Top Challenge Series. It's quite a drop from the Top League, so NEC had some real motivation. Yamaha was in 6th place and would be in the wild card playoffs regardless of the result. I'll talk more about the playoffs below.

Yamaha Jublio wins a line out

It didn't take long for NEC to prove their will as they scored off a rolling maul just 90 seconds into the match. The conversion goal was missed, keeping the score at 5-0. Yamaha tightened things up after that, and there were about 30 minutes of back and forth rugby with no scoring. The turning point came when Jublio's Yoshikazu Kushida was sent to the sin bin (a 10-minute penalty) for stamping. With the man advantage, NEC was able to stretch the Jublio defense and scored two tries in the next 6 minutes, both on wide runs. With the two conversions, the Green Rockets had a comfortable 19-0 lead at halftime.

A rolling maul

An early penalty goal in the second half by NEC made it 22-0 before Yamaha finally got on the scoreboard. They managed two tries of their own in a span of 5 minutes, but neither was converted, leaving the score at 22-10. Yamaha continued to press though, but a turnover near the NEC goal line was their undoing. It ended up in the arms of Taro Kenjo who sped down the sideline for the try, his second of the match. The conversion made it 29-10, and although Jublio managed a late try of their own, it was not nearly enough as the Green Rockets won 29-17. With the win, NEC moved into 10th to avoid the possibility of relegation, while Yamaha slid to 9th with the defeat.

The highlight of the game might have been Rory Duncan, a 6'4, 250lb behemoth playing for Yamaha just running over Takaharu Yamamoto, a 5'10 hooker for the Green Rockets. Yamamoto was slow to get up and staggered for some time after that play, wondering what had happened. It was a great run by Duncan, who later had a chance to score a try but dropped the ball at the try line, as shown in the two photos below.

Duncan races for the try line but....

drops the ball on some determined NEC tackling

Game 2 - Sanyo Wild Knights 16 Suntory Sungolaith 16

The second game was the highlight of the season. Sanyo and Suntory are the best squads in the league with both coming in undefeated after 12 rounds. Sanyo, who are the defending All-Japan champions, were a perfect 12-0, while Suntory had 11 wins in a row after opening the season with a draw.

Suntory's George Gregan looks serious before the game

Sanyo drew first blood when Suntory winger Yasunori Nagatomo dropped a kick at his try line just over 2 minutes in. The ball fell into the arms of Wild Knights fullback Atsushi Tanabe, who dove across the line for the easy try. Tanabe also kicked the conversion and it was 7-0 early. The three photos below show Nagatomo dropping the ball and Tanabe reaching for it and then diving over. It was probably the most exciting play of the game.

Why was it the most exciting play? Because these two teams were strong on defense. The match turned in a battle for field position, as both teams would kick back and forth for extended periods, hoping to force the opposition into a mistake. Neither defense failed, although there were some penalties conceded. Each side managed two penalty goals which allowed Sanyo to maintain their 7-point cushion at halftime.

In the second half, it was more of the same, kick, kick, kick. Neither defense yielded much on the ground, and it wasn't until the 10 minute mark that Sanyo's Justin Ives was sin binned for a dangerous tackle. Suntory made quick use of the man advantage with Kensuke Hatakeyama lunging desperately over the line to knot the game at 13. But the Sungoliath couldn't add to their total while Ives sat on the sideline, and we entered the last 20 minutes all tied up.

The opening kick

The defensive battle continued and there were few real chances. When Sanyo committed another infraction near midfield with about 15 minutes left, Suntory's kicker Tusi Pisi decided to try a long penalty goal, much to the astonishment of the crowd. But Pisi knew what he was capable of, and knocked it through to give the Sungoliath their first lead of the game at 16-13. But Sanyo was not to be denied - they pushed toward the line and drew a penalty with 5 minutes to go. Knowing that a draw would give them the league title, Tanabe booted an easy penalty goal to make it 16 all - Tanabe himself accounting for all of Sanyo's points.

The last 5 minutes were academic - Sanyo hadn't given up a try at full strength, and were content with the tie, so both teams just kept kicking the ball. When the final siren sounded, Sanyo's players raised their arms in triumph, even though their season was no longer perfect.

This game was an exercise in rugby tactics between two evenly matched teams. Very little field play and a lot of kicking for position. Both defenses were punishing and gave little ground. I suspect we'll see these two sides playing again in the final in three weeks time.

Thoughts

It was a great crowd today with over 12,000 on hand for the second game. A lot of youngsters and families too, which bodes well for rugby's future in Japan. At 1,500 yen for a seat one row from the field for two games, it is certainly a great deal.

The one thing that used to bother me about rugby is the large number of penalties and the fact that a penalty often leads to 3 easy points. Considering a try is only worth 5 points, I thought that the scoring for a penalty was a bit high. But looking at the stats for the top leagues, I see that tries happen nearly 3 times as often, because so many games are between mismatched teams. It is only when defenses are as strong as they were in the Suntory-Sanyo game that penalty goals become critical - in fact, they may be the only way to score. So it makes sense that they are worth more than a conversion.

The Playoffs

The Top League has two playoff tournaments played concurrently. The first features the top 4 teams in a normal semi-final/final knockout tournament with the winner being declared league champion and awarded the Microsoft Cup . The semi-finals are on January 24th with one game in Tokyo and one in Osaka, while the final is on January 31st in Tokyo.

The other playoff is known as the Wild Card Tournament and includes the teams that finished 5th through 10th. In the first round, the 7th-place squad takes on 10th-place, while the 8-9 teams battle. The winners then face the 5th and 6th place teams. The two sides that win these games gain a berth in the All-Japan Football Rugby Championship, described below. The semi-finals are on January 16th in Osaka and the finals are on January 23rd in Tokyo.

There are also two promotion/relegation games, where the 11th and 12th-place teams play one game against regional clubs that have done well in the Top Challenge Series, which seems to be a series featuring regional clubs. The winners of each game are in the Top League for the following season. These games are on February 13th in a venue to be determined.

For those readers who remember my previous Top League Rugby games back in October, I saw Kyuden Voltex lose their 7th in a row. Sadly for them, they ran the table, going 0-13 to be relegated to rugby limbo, along with the Honda Heat, who went 1-12. I'm not yet sure which Top Challenge teams will take their place, there are 3 weeks of Top Challenge games from January 16th to 30th and I think the top two teams will gain promotion.

All-Japan Football Rugby Championship

Although the Top League season ends with the Microsoft Cup, there is yet another tournament that decides the top rugby team in the nation. Known as The All-Japan Football Rugby Championship, it features the best 4 Top League teams, the 2 winners of the Wild Card tournament, 2 top university teams, a club champion, and the winner of the Top Challenge Series. The best Top League teams automatically (Suntory and Sanyo) advance to the semi-finals, while the other 8 squads battle for the other two semi-final spots. The games are held on weekends in February in various locations, including doubleheaders in Tokyo on February 7th and 14th, so I'll probably check out one day of that action as well.

Next Up

I'm off to Atlanta on Thursday! Once the trip begins, I'll be watching 16 events in 17 days in Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Miami, and Orlando. The weather there is quite cold now, so here's hoping that it warms up by the time I arrive. Of course, this blog will be busy with posts of each game and city, so follow along!

Best,

Sean

Read More

Japan Top League Rugby Doubleheader - October 24, 2009

While watching the Junior Rugby World Championship a few months back, I picked up a schedule for Japan's rugby league, known as the Top League. There are 14 teams in this league, and they often play doubleheaders when two local teams are at home at the same time. Two games are always better than one, so I made note of a Saturday in October when Chichibunomiya Rugby Ground would host back-to-back matches and patiently waited for the day to arrive.

It was chilly in Tokyo yesterday, but this didn't stop about 5,000 rugby fans from making their way to the stadium to catch the Ricoh Black Rams hosting the Kyuden Voltex, followed by the Suntory Sungoliath taking on the Kubota Spears. As with most sports in Japan, teams are named after their corporate sponsors, so it's not immediately clear where they are based. Both Ricoh and Suntory are from Tokyo though, and were therefore the home teams.

I arrived about an hour before kickoff and made my way to the ticket window. It was only 1,500 yen for a ticket that allows you to sit most anywhere. There was assigned seating for 3,000 yen and special assigned seating for 4,000 yen, but I didn't see the point of spending the extra dough. Turns out the free seating is in the uncovered backstand, which is where I prefer to sit anyway, as you can get a seat right at field level.

The empty stadium an hour before kickoff

As I entered, I was handed a scoresheet with lineups for both games and was intrigued to find several world class players from the southern hemisphere playing on all sides. In particular, Stephen Larkham was the fullback for Ricoh, while George Gregan was the scrum half for Suntory.

George Gregan

As I took my seat next to the 22m line, I noticed that you can see the scoreboard at Jingu Stadium next door. There was another Tokyo Big 6 doubleheader happening at the same time, and I was able to follow the Meiji-Hosei game, which had just started. (Meiji won 5-1 with a 4-run ninth).

The Meiji-Hosei game was 14 minutes old and Hosei led 1-0

Game 1 - Kyuden Voltex 17 at Ricoh Black Rams 41

Kyuden is short for Kyushu Denryoku, the electric power company on the southern island of Kyushu. The Voltex were lying last in the table with no wins in their 6 games and averaging about 40 points against. Ricoh was 2-4, a decent record after winning promotion from the Japan East League. I was sitting in the first row near the 22 m line, which turned out to be right in the middle of the Voltex cheering section. Or I should say the 10 or so guys that came up from Fukuoka to cheer their team. They distributed flags to everyone around them and coached them on their cheers. Which weren't very difficult. The first cheer was "Go Go Kyuden" repeated 3 times. The second cheer was "Ike Ike Kyuden" (which means "Go Go Kyuden") repeated 3 times. That was it.

There weren't any real warmups before the game started; the Voltex kicker was practicing a few kicks but that was about it. The players then came out for the traditional pre-game pictures, and then the Voltex players ran over to their supporters and tossed T-shirts into the crowd. It seems like this is a tradition as the same thing happened in the following game.

Voltex got off to a quick start when Tim Atkinson ran in a try off a lineout just 2 minutes in. With the Josh Mann-Rea conversion it was 7-0 Kyuden, who extended their lead to 10 points with a penalty goal. Before the kick, the cheering section prepared their flags again and when the ball sailed through, they waved them heartily. It was certainly unusual for the Voltex to have a lead. The teams traded tries in the next 10 minutes and Voltex had a 17-7 advantage after just 20 minutes.

Voltex close to the goalline

Unfortunately there were still 60 minutes to play, and the rest of the game was controlled by Ricoh. After an offside penalty resulted in an easy 3 points for the Black Rams, Kyuden's Kota Kurogi was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes after tripping Larkham. Ricoh's kicker, Yoshimitsu Kawano, made the penalty to narrow the gap to 4 points.

Ricoh didn't let the advantage escape, and man-of-the-match Kenichi Yokoyama scored the go-ahead try. Mann-Rea's conversion bounced in off the goal post, and Ricoh had the lead 20-17.

A scrum

Kyuden seemed deflated by the sudden turnaround, and they gave up a weak try on the halftime horn as their defense was incapable of tackling Ryo Kanazawa. From where I sat, it seemed like the defense had opened a huge gap and Kanazawa just scampered through untouched. After another conversion from Mann-Rea, it was 27-17 Ricoh at the break.

It was clear from the first half that Ricoh was the faster team and they were able to exploit the gaping holes that appeared in Kyuden's defense. Things were no different early in the second half as Kanazawa scored his third try of the game just 3 minutes after the interval, and the game was essentially over, with the Black Rams leading 34-17.

The Kyuden cheering section were still trying to inspire their team, shouting one of their two cheers during every stoppage, but their team was simply overmatched. Ricoh added a 5th try when Yusuke Nagae, a 5'7, 230 lb prop, grabbed the ball out of a scrum and scurried into the end zone. The conversion made it 41-17 and the last 20 minutes were devoid of much action, although Ricoh did attempt some long-range goals in rugby's equivalent of garbage time.

The Black Rams force the issue

After the game, the Kyuden supporters looked quite glum as their team seems destined for relegation. The players came over to thank the fans for their support and received some light applause, but the looks on their faces told it all. Another 40 points given up and they had a long flight back to Fukuoka.

Captain Masahiro Yoshinaga apologizes for his team's terrible defense

Game 2 - Kubota Spears 16 at Suntory Sungoliath 21

Suntory ranked 2nd in the league with 5 wins and a draw from their 6 matches, while Kubota were a reasonable 4-2. It promised to be a better game than the one previous and it wasn't disappointing. This time I was sitting in the Kubota cheering section, but they didn't have any flags, just two guys who would occasionally shout "Go Go Kubota" or something similar. Not a lot of creativity on display here. As Suntory is a beer maker, I would cheer for them quietly.

In the 4th minute, Japanese national player Hirotoki Onozawa followed up a kick and ran the ball in to open the scoring. The conversion was missed but Suntory were up 5-0. The Spears replied with a lucky play. When Suntory blocked a kick, the ball was quickly recovered by Kubota, who managed to get it to lock Kota Suzuki who showed off surprising speed to tie the game. The successful conversion gave Kubota a 7-5 lead.

The next 15 minutes saw both teams struggling to score, and there were a lot of stoppages and penalties awarded. I had trouble following the play because the referee's jersey was nearly the same colour as those sported by the Spears. I couldn't see many of the penalties, but Suntory had two penalty goals to Kubota's 1, and led 11-10 with a minute to go in the half. That's when the Spears' Shane Drahm booted a great drop goal to restore his side's two-point lead just as the half ended.

I decided to move seats at halftime, to try to get a different view of the game. As the second half began, the referee came out wearing a bright pink shirt - it was clear that I wasn't the only one who had difficulty following the play.

Tackled

The second half was characterized by strong defense on both sides. In particular, the Spears were able to withstand multiple challenges at their goalline. It seemed like Suntory held the ball for most of the first 10 minutes and constantly pushed Kubota's defense. Several penalties were awarded, but Suntory elected to kick out of bounds for field position, rather than take the 3 points. But Kubota's backline held and eventually got the ball out of trouble.

The Sungoliath are not able to score here - note the referee's garish garb

On Sungoliath's next trip down though, the Spears were not as fortunate as Michael Broadhurst was sin binned for repeated infringments. Suntory kept up the pressure with the advantage, but were still unable to cross the line. I was impressed with Kubota's ability to stand strong while one man down, but with just a minute or so left in the suspension, Suntory's Shinya Makabe took the ball and eluded two defenders, crossing the line to give his team an 18-13 lead after the conversion.

Makabe with the winning try

Despite Kubota having a good ability to stretch the field with some great passing, they could not break down the Suntory defense. Suntory eventually added another penalty goal to make the game 21-13 with 6 minutes left. Things looked over, but Kubota did not give up, adding their own penalty to reduce the deficit to 5 with just two minutes left.

The Spears regained possession in the last minute and tried a daring play, kicking the ball down the sideline in the hopes that a player in front could pick it up and run it in for the try. But Suntory's Wayne Van Heerden grabbed the ball after a tricky bounce and crawled toward the sideline in a desperate attempt to get out of bounds and end the game. I couldn't see clearly what was happening as it was at the other end of the field but apparently he made it out as the referee blew the whistle. Suntory was victorious 21-16 but missed out on bonus points by only scoring two tries.

Overall Thoughts

These games transpired as expected. The Voltex defense was porous and they were blown out, while Suntory won a close affair. In both games, it was a 10-minute suspension that had a large part to play in the final outcome.

I enjoyed watching two games and getting a different feeling for each team's strategy and system. It's great to be able to sit so close to the action without a screen disrupting the view, which is my chief complaint about baseball here. There were only about 5,000 fans in attendance, which shows that the Top League still has a way to go to when compared to the J League. But with the 2019 Rugby World Cup coming to Japan, as well as rugby now an Olympic sport, the Top League should be increasing in popularity. If you live in Japan, I urge you to check out a game near you (the schedule is only in Japanese though).

A good crowd

Wallabies Watched

Next week sees the Australian and New Zealand national teams doing battle in the 4th test of the 2009 Bledisoe Cup. It's a meaningless match as the Kiwi's have retained the trophy with 3 wins so far, but it's a great way to give fans in Japan a chance to see two world-class teams. Tickets are overpriced, so I won't be going, but I mention it here as the Wallabies were in attendance yesterday. After the game, they were signing autographs and fraternizing with the fans, which was great to see. I don't know many of the players by sight as I can't watch many of their games, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Hope that they can put up a good fight next week and give Japanese rugby fans a game to remember.

Next up

I was hoping to go to see Kawasaki (now in first place in the J League) today hosting Sanfrecce Hiroshima, but the weather is not promising. Next week I've planned a return trip to Omiya to see an Emperor's cup game in Nack 5 Stadium. Then it's the Nabisco Cup on November 3rd (although tickets are sold out, so it's unlikely I'll get in), the AFC Champions League Final on November 7 (Nagoya lost 6-2 to Al Ittihad in their first leg, so it's doubtful they'll make it). After that, I'll try to see a couple more Frontale games as the season winds down. As always, updates will be posted here.

Best,

Sean

Read More