Mo’unga’s three-peat bid ends in defeat to Marx and Foley’s Kubota

Kubota Spears overpowered defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus 26-3 in the League One quarter-finals as Richie Mo’unga’s bid for an unprecedented 'three-peat' was ended by Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx’s 2023 winners.

In an absorbing encounter at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Frans Ludeke’s Kubota outmuscled their opponents up front and starved them off possession for long periods of the game to go some way to avenging last year’s loss in the final.

Ex-Wallabies fly-half Foley, who will leave the club at the end of the season, triumphed over his former All Blacks rival Mo’unga who will return to New Zealand in June without a national title for the first time in 10 years.

Back-to-back MVP Mo’unga won seven with the Crusaders and two with Toshiba but saw his hopes of a ‘three-peat’ fade as buoyant Kubota booked a semi-final tie against inaugural League One champions Saitama Wild Knights.

After a stuttering campaign for Todd Blackadder’s side, which saw them endure a run of seven consecutive defeats earlier in the year, there was relief when they edged their way into the play-offs with a sixth-placed finish.

Toshiba fought valiantly in an arm-wrestle of a first half before the hosts took over the game in the second half.

The reigning champions made a positive start as Mo’unga’s forced Foley into a mistake as he hesitated and inadvertently tapped the All Blacks’ clearance kick into touch in his own 22.

Toshiba, who were able to match the intensity of the South African-laden forwards pack, struck first when Japan full-back Takuro Matsunaga, who handled kicking duties instead of Mo’unga, calmly slotted a penalty after five minutes.

Kubota turned their possession into points with an opportunistic effort from back-up scrum-half Ippei Okada after 15 minutes who crossed for the first try of the game.

Okada, who at 32 was only making his fifth League One experience with Japan number nine Shinobu Fujiwara sidelined for the remainder of the season, took a quick tap and go five metres from try line and sprinted past Toshiba’s static defence.

Foley added the extra two points to extend the hosts’ lead to 7-3.

Kubota battled to push the ball wide but were committing unforced errors which was epitomised by Brave Blossoms utility-back Halatoa Vailea dropping a pass with the try line two metres in front of him. They enjoyed more success up the middle when World Player of The Year and Springboks star Malcolm Marx and ex-All Black Shaun Stevenson ran it straight.

Kubota stormed into life in the second half when MVP contender and ex-All Black Shaun Stevenson produced a pinpoint kick-pass to the unmarked Vailea on the right wing who dotted the ball down having finally escaped the attention of his opposite number Jone Naikabula.

Foley kicked the conversion to extend the hosts’ lead to 14-3 after 44 minutes.

Stevenson, who was playing in his first League One knockout game, produced a superb 50:22 as Kubota began to apply more pressure and test the resolve of the champions.

Captain Faulua Makisi, a titan for club and country in recent seasons, scored a try his performance merited after a defensive mix up from Toshiba saw the ball spill out in their own in-goal area and the Tonga-born number eight simply had to apply downward pressure.

Foley missed the conversion but his team’s lead still looked unassailable for Toshiba at 19-3 after 52 minutes.

Makisi crashed into his Brave Blossoms teammate and Toshiba captain Michael Leitch whose head hit the turf and he had to leave the field for a head injury assessment.

Toshiba were penalised when lock and new Japan call-up Michael Stolberg’s shoulder made contact with the head of try scorer Vailea but he surprisingly avoided a yellow card.

Kubota’s dominance in the scrum was bearing dividends as they tried to seal a spot in the tournament's last four.

Skipper Makisi, Marx, Okada and Foley were among seven changes for Kubota with one eye on a potential semi-final next Sunday.

Ex-All Black Seta Tamanivalu replaced Rob Thompson at outside-centre in a last roll of the dice for the defending champions.

Toshiba valiantly held out under a barrage of attacks from Ludeke’s side until Vailea launched a counter-attack and stabbed the ball forward as he was tackled by Mo’unga.

South African centre Rikus Pretorius beat Naikabula to the ball to score Kubota’s fourth try and wrap up the victory in Tokyo.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Blackadder said: “We tried to execute our game plan but they put us under a lot of pressure. I was proud of our response. We didn't win the territory battle at all. We stayed in the fight. I still believed if we took a few chances we could get back into it but it wasn't to be today.

"Congratulations to Kubota. I’m really proud of the group. It’s been a real year of adversity. Our supporters have brilliant in an up and down season and I want to thank them for that.

“It’s not the way we wanted to finish the season but it is what it is.”

Toshiba (1-15): Sena Kimura, Andrew Makalio, Yuta Kokaji, Jacob Pierce, Michael Stolberg, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Hiroki Yamamoto, Michael Leitch (c), Kohei Takahashi, Richie Mo’unga, Michael Collins, Taichi Mano, Rob Thompson, Jone Naikabula, Takuro Matsunaga

Replacements: Rinpei Sakaki, Masataka Mikami, Teruo Makabe, Shohei Ito, Takeshi Sasaki, Yuhei Sugiyama, Seta Tamanivalu, Rei Ishioka

Kubota (1-15): Yota Kamimori, Malcolm Marx, Keijiro Tamefusa, Ruan Botha, David Bulbring, Tyler Paul, Takeo Suenaga, Faulua Makisi (c), Ippei Okada, Bernard Foley, Haruto Kida, Yuya Hirose, Rikus Pretorius, Halatoa Vailea, Shaun Stevenson

Replacements:  Hayate Era, Kazuki Kato, Izi Sword, Merwe Olivier, Akira Ieremia, Bryn Hall, Atsushi Oshikawa, Koga Nezuka