South Africans overseas: King Kolbe reigns supreme in big Sungoliath win

Starting at fullback, Kolbe was easily the best player on the pitch in Tokyo. Aside from the point he scored, he gained an incredible 165 metres with ball-in-hand from 14 carries, as well as contributing six tackles on defence.

He also made a beautiful offload that led to a try in the second half, in what turned out to be one of the games of the season so far for Kolbe.

Kolbe scored the first try of the game in the 14th minute, running a scything line to cut through the Brave Lupus defence before throwing a dummy pass to wrong-foot the last defender, which allowed him to race over the line unopposed.

His second came shortly after half-time and was a superb solo effort. He began somewhat flat-footed after receiving a pass that was a little bit behind him. Kolbe was able to use the bit of space he was in to build up some speed before stepping inside the attempted tackle of Michael Collins, before barging through Kohei Takahashi and bundling his way to the tryline.

In addition to his two five-pointers, Kolbe kicked 20 points with the boot, which included seven try conversions and two penalty goals.

Springbok pivot Manie Libbok started at flyhalf for the Kintetsu Liners in Division Two and kicked eight crucial points in their thrilling 50-48 win over the Kyuden Voltex.

While Libbok did not end up crossing the tryline himself, he was instrumental on attack in the playmaker role for the Liners.

He kept the defence guessing with a good mix of running, passing and kicking while also making sure his channel was secure when the opposition had the ball.

Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk made his long-awaited return from injury in the Canon Eagles' narrow 31-26 win over the Honda Heat.

De Klerk spent around an hour on the pitch and was all action, getting to every ruck quickly and distributing with pace and accuracy. He made 34 passes, as well as gaining around 20 metres from three carries and provided an offload that led to a try.

Franco Mostert captained the Heat and put in a big shift on defence, leading from the front with 15 tackles but it wasn't enough to help prevent his side from falling to defeat.

Damian de Allende scored an important try in the Wild Knights' dramatic 32-30 victory over the Kubota Spears.

The Springbok centre got his side off to the best possible start by scoring the first points of the game when he dotted down in the 14th minute.

After seven phases of build-up play, De Allende spotted a tiny gap in the Spears' defence and took full advantage, running a sharp diagonal line to break through before handing off David Bulbring and barging his way over to score.

Malcolm Marx started at hooker for the Spears and made an impact in his 60 minutes on the pitch, especially at lineout time, where his throw-ins were sharp and accurate.