Masakatsu Hikosaka scored a brace of tries as Toyota Verblitz beat Kubota Spears 27-10 in the Top League on Sunday.
Playing at Sapporo's Tsukisamu Stadium, Verblitz took the early lead on a seventh-minute Takaya Monji penalty, but South African Grant Hattingh dove over to complete a well-worked 11th-minute try that put Spears in front.
His countryman Louis Fouche added the extras and made it 10-3 with a penalty of his own in the 26th minute, but Kubota would have little more to show for its exertions after that.
Tongan No. 8 Taufa Olive crossed the whitewash in the 29th minute for Verblitz. In the dying minutes of the first half, a Kubota penalty set up a lineout close to the try line and Hikosaka scored from a driving maul that Spears had no answer for.
Continuous pressure from the Verblitz attack paid off in the 53rd minute, when Silivenusi Taumoepeau easily covered a chip over the try line that made it 20-10 after Monji kicked the conversion. A converted 69th-minute try by Hikosaka drove the final nail in Kubota's coffin.