Rugby: Brave Lupus outlast Spears for back-to-back League One titles
KYODO NEWS - 19 hours ago - 19:57 | Sports, Rugby, All
Former All Black star Richie Mo'unga led Brave Lupus Tokyo to back-to-back Japan Rugby League One titles in a tightly fought 18-13 win against the Kubota Spears in Sunday's championship decider.
The 31-year-old flyhalf scored the opening try and set up his team's second, while adding eight points with the boot in front of 51,009 at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Brave Lupus head coach Todd Blackadder revealed after the game that Mo'unga had delivered his man-of-the-match performance with a fractured hand that prevented him training throughout the preceding week.
"At the start of the week we weren't sure (if he could play)," Blackadder said. "He turned up and played very well and you wouldn't have known that he had a fractured hand. That just shows how committed he is to this team and what a player he is."
Blackadder's men went into the final as favorites after finishing the regular season on top of the table and cruising past the Kobe Steelers in last weekend's semifinals.
As third-place finishers, head coach Frans Ludeke's Spears were coming off an extra round of playoff rugby, followed by a grueling semifinal win against the Saitama Wild Knights.
Mo'unga opened the scoring in the eighth minute, creating space with a clever dummy and stepping across in the corner. The playmaking maestro missed the conversion, allowing Kubota to cut the lead to a single kick on Bernard Foley's penalty nine minutes later.
Another penalty each from Mo'unga and Foley saw Brave Lupus lead 8-6 at the break after a defensive arm wrestle in the first half.
Brave Lupus ran in their second try from a scrum inside their own half, with Mo'unga breaking the line and sending over center Yuto Mori, then kicking the extras for a 15-6 lead in the 48th minute.
Kubota's defense held firm as winger Halatoa Vailea sat in the sin bin, before veteran center Harumichi Tatekawa scored the first try for the 2022-2023 champions, cutting the lead to five points at 18-13 with Foley's conversion in the 73rd minute.
Brave Lupus were able to soak up the defensive pressure in the final minutes under dark and cloudy skies before heavy rain began soaking the Tokyo Olympic venue.
Mo'unga said preparing for the match had been a "big challenge" because of his injury, sustained late in the semi against Kobe, but playing in the final was a "no-brainer."
"I think you take away the injury, and my mindset is to compete and to try and win, and try to have influence, and that's what I knew I had to do today," he said.
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