All Blacks and Springboks stars Aaron Smith and Cheslin Kolbe played out an epic Japan Rugby League One stalemate this weekend.
The Ian Foster and Sir Steve Hansen-led Toyota Verblitz missed a late opportunity to seal a win over Suntory Sungoliath on Saturday with the round three fixture finishing 30-all.
Suntory Sungoliath and Toyota Verblitz stalemate
In a real back-and-forth encounter between the two clubs, it ultimately came down to the accuracy off the tee, with Verblitz outscoring Sungoliath four tries to three.
Seiya Ozaki opened the scoring for Suntory in the fourth minute before Springboks flyer Kolbe was yellow-carded, with Verblitz capitalising with a penalty through Rikiya Matsuda and a Yoshikatsu Hikosaka try.
Once back to 15 men, Suntory grabbed their second score through Mikiya Takamoto which would give them a 14-8 half-time lead.
That lead did not last long as Smith would put his side into the lead early in the second-half with the scrum-half running a trademark arc that we have seen time and time again throughout his career.
The former All Blacks scrum-half received a wonderful blind pass from his ex-Highlanders teammate Kazuki Himeno inside the Suntory 22 and put the afterburners on, speeding past inside centre Ryoto Nakamura before running through the gap between Kai Yamamoto and Kolbe to score under the posts.
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Takamoto would put Suntory back into the lead before Nicholas McCuran replied for Verblitz. Even with Ozaki’s second try, Sungoliath were unable to hold out for the victory with Matt McGahan claiming a late try to even the scores. The inability of Matsuda to convert the try for Verblitz proved costly as did Tiaan Falcon’s last-gasp penalty attempt with Takamoto also missing an earlier penalty.
Verblitz will face the Ricoh Black Rams in the next round of action while Suntory will collide with the Kubota Spears in their second match of the new year.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-all-blacks-star-aaron-smith-leaves-cheslin-kolbe-in-his-wake-in-epic-japanese-stalemate
