JAPAN ROUND-UP
HADLEIGH Parkes took his try tally to seven for the season as Panasonic Wild Knights beat Yamaha Jubilo 55-19 to seal the white conference title.
Panasonic scored eight tries to three in a comprehensive performance. Parkes scored twice while his midfield partner, the former Australian U20 centre Dylan Riley, weighed in with a hat-trick.
The win at the Kumagaya Athletic Stadium ensured the Wild Knights completed the conference programme unbeaten, which carried the reward of further home comforts for their first match of the competition's elimination series in two weeks.
That engagement could see Panasonic's former Wallaby coach, Robbie Deans, matched against two of his charges from the Australian national team, with the Wild Knights drawn to host the winner of next weekend's game between the bottom-finishing red conference side, and the Kintetsu Liners.
Kintetsu, who qualified out of the Top League challenger tournament, feature former Wallabies Quade Cooper and Will Genia. Both were given their test debuts during Deans' five-and-a-half-year tenure as Wallabies' coach.
It is a more recent selection that has provided the ‘gold' for Deans in Japan, with yesterday's double by Parkes representing the sixth and seventh tries the former Scarlets midfielder has scored during his maiden season in Japan.
The game was the fifth from seven outings in which Panasonic had exceeded 45 points, with their level of control such that Deans required England lock George Kruis for only the final 35 minutes.
Elsewhere, an 83rd minute try by replacement hooker Keita Matsuoka denied former Gloucester coach Johan Ackerman of the competition's biggest upset to date, as the Kobelco Steelers edged the NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, 31-29 at Osaka.
Needing to better Panasonic's result to win the conference, Kobe overplayed their hand at times, repeatedly botching opportunities against a determined opponent desperate to atone for a 97-0 annihilation in the corresponding game last year.
Leading 14-13 at halftime, Kobe looked like they might be tripped by the Gloucester connection, when the Cherry & Whites' former full-back Tom Marshal, scored his side's third try, to give the Red Hurricanes the lead. But after a late penalty, Matsuoka caught the defence napping on the blindside from a lineout drive to claim the winning score.
Although a bitter pill for Ackerman, a reversal of the result wouldn't have changed either team's qualifying ranking. And the performance will give the Hurricanes confidence heading into the elimination series.
Saturday's other matches saw the Ricoh Black Rams beat the Hino Red Dolphins 41-19 while Honda Heat recorded their first win of the year, flattening the Mitsubishi Dynaboars 55-7.
The result was a disaster for Mitsubishi, who now have to front for the elimination series' first round, next weekend. Honda, who jumped two places on the standings, could avoid the same fate should the Munakata Sanix Blues fail to upset the Toshiba Brave Lupus today.
