ROUND 14 WRAP: Springbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse has handed South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus a big worry with his injury scare in Japan League One.
The star wing was forced to leave the field in the sixth minute during Dynaboars’ 8-38 defeat to Blue Revs.
Arendse sustained a leg injury while he tried to score a try.
Adding insult to the injury, the try was disallowed on TMO review due to an earlier infringement during the lead-up.
The game was scoreless when the Dynaboars lost their star man, but the ruthless performance from the home side suggested that even the South African’s on-field presence wouldn’t have been enough to turn the tide.
Blue Revs skipper Kwagga Smith scored the home side’s second try off a quickly taken tap from a penalty, helped them establish a 12-3 halftime advantage, and they were never threatened after the break.
Smith’s side pushed to a 31-3 before the Dynaboars troubled the scoreboard again.
Springbok duo Lood de Jager and Damian De Allende both touched down as Wild Knights books a spot in the play-offs.
Wild Knights dispatched Verblitz 55-17, overrunning Steve Hansen’s side in the final stages after Verblitz backrower Kosei Miki was sent off.
Verblitz, who had had former Wallaby skipper Michael Hooper ejected for 10 minutes in the first half for persistent infringing, were just seven points behind when they were reduced to 14 after head contact in a tackle by Miki saw him dismissed.
In conceding five unanswered tries in the final 20 minutes, the manner of Verblitz’s capitulation was not dissimilar to their disastrous visit to Kumagaya last term, when they had led 27-8 at halftime before being blown away in the second half of a 43-27 loss.
De Jager’s South African teammate De Allende also featured on the scoresheet, backing up a break by midfield partner Vince Aso, as the home side easily achieved a bonus point with nine tries, six more than their opponents.
During the Kuboto Spears’ 42-14 win over the Black Rams, Malcolm Marx continued his recent try-scoring form, going over for his fifth from the last six matches.
Marx’s try was one of three scored by the Spears as they marched to a 21-0 advantage.
A further try by South African-born centre Rikus Pretorius after halftime advanced the cause, before the Black Rams finally responded with their first points, via a try from backrower Brodi McCurran.
That it took 51 minutes for Ricoh to score was a testament to the Spears’ almost absolute dominance.
By the time backrower and fan favourite Amato Fakatava added his team’s second try, Ricoh had just eight more minutes to suffer, having had their misery added to when skipper TJ Perenara picked up a yellow card for dangerous play.
Cheslin Kolbe scored his second try in as many weeks as Sungoliath dismantled Mie Heat with a 60-31 win.
Veteran Wallaby backrower Sean McMahon scored two first-half tries to help Sungoliath to a 29-12 halftime advantage, the second coming off an intercept which saw the 30-year-old scoot 60 metres.
The Australian narrowly missed out on a hattrick when he lost the ball in the act of placing it against the goalpost.
While Heat closed to within 10 points midway through the second period, Suntory scored four of the day’s last five tries to complete a bonus point victory that has lifted them into the top six for the first time.
Having been starved of opportunities for much of the campaign, Springbok winger Kolbe is starting to enjoy some luck, collecting a second try in as many weeks after receiving a kind bounce from a ball kicked beyond the try-line by Brave Blossoms fullback Kotaro Matsushima.
The return of former rugby league star, dual code international Israel Folau, failed to lift bottom side Urayasu D-Rocks out of their current predicament, with the 12th defeat of a difficult season pushing last year’s Division Two champions ever closer to the relegation series precipice.
Urayasu’s 33-22 defeat allowed the Eagles to end a four-game losing stretch – their worst since the 2014/15 season – although it was not enough to retain their position in the top six, with the Eagles falling below Suntory due to the latter’s bonus point victory.
While Folau, who was withdrawn after an hour, was unable to mark his first outing since early January with a try, the international midfielders on each side did contribute.
Inform Wallaby Samu Kerevi crossed twice for D-Rocks, with both being run in from range, to take his tally to seven tries from his last six appearances.
Springbok centre Jesse Kriel also scored after a 40-metre bust off a clever inside ball from backrower Amanaki Lelei Mafi.
Kriel had earlier produced a cutout pass which created the space for winger Chishi Matsui to grab the game’s opening points.
Fixture
Japan Rugby League One
