Kubota Spears fly-half Bernard Foley’s injury-time drop-goal sealed a dramatic come-from-behind win for the former League One champions against Toyota Verblitz on Sunday.
Frans Ludeke’s Spears, who won the second League One campaign in 2023, failed to make the play-offs last season with injuries to key players and are looking to bounce back this season.
Steve Hansen’s perennial underachievers Toyota Verblitz took their annual summer spending spree to exorbitant levels this year even by their standards with a glut of signings including rugby league convert Joseph Manu, Scottish lock Richie Gray and Japan fly-half Rikiya Matsuda while Ian Foster joined as the club’s co-head coach.
Toyota are under pressure to deliver success this season and will rue their opening round loss as they threw away a 14-point lead in the final 30 minutes.
Former League One champions Kubota struck first at a windswept Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium as 12,358 fans braced the cold snap in Tokyo.
Kubota hooker Hayate Era, 23, who started ahead of Springboks star Malcolm Marx, justified his inclusion by opening the scoring.
Era, who scored three tries in his six appearances in his rookie season last term, crossed for the hosts whose potent forward pack could not be contained.
Toyota restored parity through Toyota-born wing Viliame Tuidraki after 20 minutes.
Ex-Panasonic star Rikiya Matsuda, who was overlooked by Eddie Jones for Japan's Autumn Nations campaign, slotted a difficult conversion from the left touchline to nudge his new side ahead for the first time.
Captain Kazuki Himeno extended his team’s advantage after picking the ball up from the base of the scrum and driving over before the half hour mark.
Himeno’s opposite number, new Kubota captain Faulua Makisi, showcased his power by holding off two Kubota defenders and emphatically touched down.
Former NRL star Joseph Manu marked his first League One appearance by scoring his first Toyota try from close range as he took Aaron Smith’s pass at speed five yards from the try line and held Kubota centre Yuya Hirose.
With a 14-point deficit to make up, the introduction of Kubota’s ‘bomb squad’ seemed imminent and Ludeke rung the changes in the 47th minute.
The new front row featured props Yota Kamimori and new Japan international Opeti Helu either side of Marx while Asiperli Moala came on at number eight and energetic scrum-half Shinobu Fujiwara replaced debutant Bryn Hall.
Their impact was felt immediately as new signing Tyler Paul, who is now eligible for Japan after being moved to a Category A registration based on residency grounds, emerged with the ball from a line-out maul to open his Kubota account.
Full-back Yuhei Shimada closed the gap to four points when he went over on the right flank after some fine build-up work from hard-working South African centre Rikus Pretorius.
Ludeke’s second-half tinkering inspired the turnaround with Marx and Helu, whose line breaks and nimble-fingered offloads were lapped up by the home fans, both omnipresent.
The rampant hosts tied up the score at 27-27 after Bernard Foley converted a debut League One try for tenacious South African lock Merwe Olivier with five minutes remaining.
Kubota completed a dramatic comeback when Foley provided a piece of magic with an 83rd-minute drop-goal in the game’s last play to send the Orange Army into raptures and spark a pitch invasion from his teammates and club staff.
Kubota: K. Kaishi, H. Era, K. Tamefusa, M. Olivier, D. Bulbring, T. Paul, T. Suenaga, F. Makisi (c), B. Hall, B. Foley, H Kida, Y. Hirose, R. Pretorius, H. Vailea, Y. Shimada
Toyota: S. Miura, Y. Hikosaka, Y. Kizu, R. Gray. D. Akiyama, W. Tupou, K. Miki, K. Himeno, A. Smith, R. Matsuda, V. Tuidraki, S. Fifita, J. Manu, T. Takahashi, T. Falcon
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