Cheslin Kolbe's side gets punished by Lukhanyo Am
WRAP: Cheslin Kolbe might have been absent, but there was still plenty of class on display at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars flyhalf Shun Miyake was the headline act as his side caused one of the biggest upsets of the Japan Rugby League One season when they beat Tokyo Sungoliath 34-15 in the Japanese capital.
Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am scored the final try for the Dynaboars to rub salt in Sungoliath’s wounds.
The 24-year-old Miyake made the most of the opportunity in the match, rescheduled after snow forced an earlier cancellation, by scoring a first-half hat-trick, and all his side’s points as they roared to a 22-5 lead.
While he was born in Kobe, Miyake finished his secondary education at the prestigious Christ’s College in New Zealand, playing 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 quality of Miyake’s performance against Sungoliath was a credit to the flyhalf’s character after he had endured a torturous afternoon last Sunday, missing four of his five attempts at goal as Sagamihara slipped to a damaging two-point defeat against Toyota Verblitz.
Any hangover from that disappointment was dispelled within two minutes as he scuttled over for his side’s first try, starting a point-scoring procession that had his name written all over it as he added two conversions and a penalty goal to his three tries.
Sungoliath’s only response in the opening period came from the former (Waikato) 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 try-scoring bonus point when hooker Seunghyok 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 in referee’s time putting the seal on an impressive 19-point success.
The win allowed the 10th-placed Dynaboars to jump out of the relegation series positions, swapping places with Urayasu D-Rocks.
While Sungoliath remains in the top four, their fourth defeat of the season has left them 10 points adrift of the third-placed Saitama Wild Knights.
*Division Two also saw an upset as Hanazono Kintetsu Liners suffered their first defeat of the season when they were felled 30-22 by Nippon Steel Kamaishi Seawaves at Iwate.
The ‘Iron Man of the North’ has surprisingly struggled at the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium for much of the League One era, but former Wallaby back rower Toutai Kefu’s men showed plenty of grit in holding off a late rally from the section leaders to secure just their sixth home win in the five years since League One began.
Hino Red Dolphins remain winless after a 10-48 defeat by the Greg Cooper-coached Green Rockets Tokatu, which has consolidated the latter’s hold on fourth position on the championship ladder.
SkyActivs Hiroshima retained their unbeaten record and top position on the Division Three standings, after they saw off their closest rival Rugguts 33-30 in a thriller at the city’s Balcom BMW Stadium.
Le Riro Fukuoka are third after edging out Yakult Levins Toda.
