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Whare (8'), Kitamura (50')
Tries
Penalty Try (16'), Raratubua (26'), Lee (44'), Burua (72')
Greene (8', 51')
Conversions
Gatland (26', 45')
Greene (37', 56')
Penalties
Gatland (4', 75', 78')
On a wet and windy day in Osaka, the Kobelco Kobe Steelers beat first-time quarterfinalists Shizuoka Blue Revs 35-20, pulling away in the final 15 minutes of the closely contested fixture to secure their place in a semifinal against Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo on Saturday, 24th May.
At the final whistle, Steelers Head Coach Dave Rennie said, “I thought we defended well and our set piece was excellent and we built some pressure against a tough team who have had an excellent season, so it's a big win for us. It's almost a home game for us, and the fans have turned out in big numbers, which is awesome. We'll reflect on today as the last time we played Toshiba, we were humbled and we know they are champions and a fantastic side. We are looking forward to the challenge next week.”
The Steelers had got on the scoreboard early as flyhalf scored a penalty in the 4th minute to lead 3-0. The discipline of the Blue Revs, who were in their first playoffs after a fantastic season, as Rennie said, was poor in the first half, and they had racked up 8 penalties before Kobe conceded their first.
The first try, however, was scored by the team in blue after a halfway line scrum turned into an excellent set play as Malo Tuitama made some serious meters up the middle before offloading to Valynce Te Whare scored under the posts with Sam Greene converting to lead 7-3 in the 8th minute.
As the half went on, the Steelers had the edge at scrum time, thanks to a pack effort, but starting tight head and 39-year-old Hiroshi Yamashita deserves special mention. And there were scrums a plenty, hitting double figures in the first half due to so many dropped balls in the wet and humid conditions.
A first potential try for the Steelers was ruled to be a high tackle too, and the TMO deemed it a penalty try and a yellow card for Valynce TeWhare, who would have a game to forget despite a wonderful season.
There were lots of mini battles, but the fantastic battle in the centres alone was worth a watch with the quality on display.
A great dummy by Steelers wing Kazuma Ueda broke the Blue Revs open, and they scored through Waisake Raratubua to lead 17-7 in the 26th minute. Gatland looked to add three more a few minutes later to extend the lead, but missed.
With halftime approaching, Blue Revs finally had a period of pressure, and it was the Steelers who gave away 5 penalties towards the end of the half. Greene slotted a penalty to make it 17-10 at halftime.
Coach Yuichiro Fujii made changes for the Blue Revs and brought on captain Kwagga Smith and a couple of other changes, but the side was still giving away needless penalties in the opening ten minutes and struggled to get momentum
The Steelers were denied a try by the touchline and the TMO after a double tackle by Piutau and Valynce on Matsunaga, but moments later, they broke through the defence again and fullback and vice-captain Lee Seung-sin scored their 3rd try and a 24-10 lead.
As the game seemed to be slipping away from the Blue Revs, they replied with ten points themselves. First an excellent steal, great hands and try scrum half Shuntaro Kitamura- his 15th in his debut season, followed by another Greene penalty (4/4) in the 57th minute.
There were two periods of magnificent defence, first from the team chasing the lead who held out the Steelers after 16 phases, before the Kobe side returned the favour with equally impressive sustained midfield defence.
It was engaging and a close contest, but scoreboard pressure was on the Blue Revs, and they made too many mistakes, especially within their own 22m. It was high-pressure knockout rugby.
After another 10 phases by the Steelers on the Blue Revs line and a series of penalties, Gatland kick-passed beautifully to the left for Inoke Burua to score in the corner and made it 29-20 with time running out.
Valynce had done some amazing work, but knocked the ball on in own 22m, not for the first time. The Steelers were gifted two easy penalties, which Gatland kicked over - the second of which was after Valynce was again caught behind the advantage line and pinged for holding.
Kobe secured the win and marched on to the semifinal as Gatland passed 200 points for the season.
Kobelco Kobe Steelers captain Brodie Retallick, who played the full 80 minutes, said afterwards- “It was not too dissimilar to last week and we were inaccurate in the first half and it was an arm wrestle but we managed to apply some pressure. The scrum was a big focus for us and we turned the tables and won a few penalties. We play a Kobe rugby style as we have all season, and we are looking forward to next week.”
Man of the Match was sprightly 37-year-old Kobe Steelers scrumhalf Atsushi Hiwasa who outshone his counterpart Shuntaro Kitamura, but the younger Blue Revs player has had a fantastic season and was in tears at the final whistle. He should be in the mix when Brave Blossoms play in 2025.
Hiwasa said the weather suited them and they were better able to control the game, adding "When we looked like we could score, we picked up the tempo, and when we wanted to take it slower, we did that to maintain a balance."
Results
Saturday May 17
Kobelco Kobe Steelers 35-20 Shizuoka BlueRevs, at Osaka
Sunday May 18
Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay 20-15 Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath, at Osaka
