Super Sunwolves batter Blues

The Sunwolves scored eight tries in their shock 48-21 win against the Blues in Tokyo on Saturday.

The Blues led 21-14 at half-time, but were unable to add to their tally as the hosts ran riot in their best-ever spell of Super Rugby to claim their first win against New Zealand opposition.

The Blues raced into a 14-0 lead after as many minutes, thanks to converted tries by James Parsons and Gerard Cowley-Tuioti.

The Sunwolves hit back when Timothy Lafaele went over from close range in the 17th minute, before Michael Collins intercepted a poor pass near his 22m line and raced away to score the Blues' third try.

The hosts finished the half strongly, and were rewarded when Keisuke Uchida went over to reduce the deficit to seven points.

The Sunwolves struck again in the 54th minute, when Ryohei Yamanaka scored after the Blues failed to deal with a kick into their in-goal area.

Soon after, Jerome Kaino was yellow-carded for a high tackle, and the Sunwolves scored a penalty try and a try through Kaito Shigeno while he was off, to take a 31-21 lead with 16 minutes remaining.

Lafaele then added another two tries to complete his hat-trick, with Yoshitaka Tokunaga going over just before full-time to round off an incredible win.

Sunwolves – Tries: Timothy Lafaele (3), Keisuke Uchida, Ryohei Yamanaka, Kaito Shigeno, penalty try, Yoshitaka Tokunaga. Conversions: Tu Tamura (2), Jumpei Ogura.
Blues – Tries: James Parsons, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Michael Collins. Conversions: Ihaia West (3).

Sunwolves – 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Willy Tupou, 12 Timothy Lafaele, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Tu Tamura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz (c), 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Koo Jiwon, 2 Takeshi Hino, 1 Koki Yamamoto.
Subs: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Yasuo Yamaji, 19 Yuya Odo, 20 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Jumpei Ogura, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka.

Blues – 15 Michael Collins, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 George Moala, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Melani Nanai, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Augustine Pulu, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons (c), 1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi.
Subs: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Josh Goodhue, 20 Jerome Kaino, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Stephen Perofeta, 23 Rene Ranger.

Photo: Koki Nagahama/Getty Images

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