NEC continued its Lazarus-like resurgence in the 55th Company Clubs Rugby Football Championship with a 24-17 win over Ricoh at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Stadium on Sunday, the victory ensuring NEC finished top of Group C, with Ricoh also qualifying for the quarterfinals as runnerup in the group.
![News photo](/images/photos2003/sp20030106a1a.jpg)
The big news of the day came from the other game in the so-called "group of death", in which a 74th-minute drop goal from World fullback Koji Fukuoka saw World recover from a 20-0 deficit at halftime to beat Toyota Motors 23-20. Although both sides were out of contention for a spot in the last eight of the company championship there was still plenty to play for as the losers would miss out on a spot in the new Top League that starts next September.