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Watch: Aaron Smith sets up ex-NRL star Joseph Manu for debut try in Japan
By Finn Morton
Former Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Kiwis utility Joseph Manu has scored on debut for Toyota Verblitz in Japan Rugby League One, with legendary All Black Aaron Smith sending the code-hopper over for a try with an inch-perfect pass against Kubota Spears.
Manu, 28, signed with the Japanese club who also have World Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit on their books for the upcoming season. Ian Foster is the club’s head coach and they also have two-time Rugby World Cup winner Sir Steve Hansen.
With superstars across the board in the Japanese competition, it was always going to be intriguing to see how Manu fares in the 15-player game – although the 2022 International Rugby League Golden Boot winner insists eventually playing for the All Blacks isn’t a focus.
On the back of another strong season with the Roosters, which saw Manu break the all-time NRL record for the most running metres by an individual player in a single game with 373 in April, Manu recently made the move to Japan to embark on a new sporting journey.
Manu was named at outside centre for Toyota Verblitz’s first match of the new Japan Rugby League One season, with Rikiya Matsuda, Kosei Miki and former Scotland international Richie Gray also named to debut at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.
Brave Blossoms enforcer Kazuki Himeno was named as the team’s captain at No. 8, while Smith was named as the starting halfback. They came against a Kubota side that included multiple Super Rugby champion Bryn Hall and former Wallaby Bernard Foley in the halves.
Kubota struck first on the 11-minute mark after some solid work from the forwards at a rolling maul but the conversion was unsuccessful. The Spears also went down to 14 men shortly after as winger Halatoa Vailea was shown a yellow card.
Viliame Tuidraki made the most of the advantage to score a try in the corner, with the successful conversion giving Verblitz a 7-5 lead midway through the first term. Captain Himeno scored next for Verblitz before Kubota skipper Faulua Makisi struck back.
It was 14-10 before Manu stepped up.
With 42 seconds until the half-time siren, Smith delivered a perfect pass onto the chest of the former NRL superstar. Manu ran a brave line past Foley; receiving the ball about two metres out from the try line – the New Zealander was always going to be tough to stop from there.
Smith was the first player to embrace Manu before the other Verblitz players rushed over to celebrate their teammate on his debut try. Rikiya Matsuda added the extras to give the men in green a well-worked 21-10 lead at the half-time interval.
But the second term was mostly controlled by Kubota.
The Spears most of the points, which included a clutch drop goal in the 83rd minute from Foley to give them a 30-27 comeback win. Manu had been replaced at that stage as Verblitz started their division one campaign with a tough result.
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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