'Massively improved' Sunwolves take Lions to wire in Super Rugby

Humiliated 94-7 at the same ground last year, the visiting team set out to make amends and led by five points with 20 minutes remaining of the round 5 match.

But the Japanese outfit could not maintain the momentum and conceded tries to Malcolm Marx and Rohan Janse van Rensburg before a late Atsushi Sakate score secured a losing bonus point.

It was a dramatic improvement by the Sunwolves, who only last weekend crumbled 50-22 to the Coastal Sharks in the first of two matches in South Africa.

"The Sunwolves have improved massively since last year," said Springbok hooker Marx, whose two tries and all-round performance earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Sunwolves skipper Yutaka Nagare was surprisingly downbeat given the brave performance from a team that have suffered many embarrassing away defeats since their 2016 debut.

"This was a game we really wanted to win, but my team were not good enough. We just have to keep trying," he said via an interpreter.

In other matches, Otago Highlanders maintained a perfect record by defeating reigning champions Canterbury Crusaders while Western Stormers and ACT Brumbies snapped losing runs.

Former champions Highlanders beat Crusaders 25-17 in Dunedin for a third straight win, 'flu-hit Stormers downed Auckland Blues 37-20 in Cape Town and Brumbies edged Coastal Sharks 24-17 in Canberra.

Highlanders' victory took them top of the New Zealand conference with 13 points, three more than the Wellington Hurricanes and the Crusaders.  

Stormers rose to second in South Africa behind 2017 runners-up Lions, and Brumbies share second place in Australia with the Reds, seven points adrift of the Melbourne Rebels.

Playmaker Damian Willemse, one of numerous Stormers who battled 'flu during the week, gave a flawless 17-point goal-kicking performance and EW Viljoen scored two of the hosts' four tries.

"It was a great team performance." said man-of-the-match winner Willemse. "Many of us battled with illness throughout the week, but gave our all today."

After winning their season opener, Stormers lost all three matches on a tour of Australasia, making success over the Blues at Newlands imperative.

Viljoen scored after 90 seconds to gave the home side a perfect start, they led 24-3 at half-time and whenever the Blues threatened a comeback, the Stormers responded by scoring.

"We believed we could stage a second-half comeback, but made too many errors," admitted Blues skipper James Parsons. "Credit to the Stormers -- they were fantastic."  

In Dunedin, two late penalties by Lima Sopoaga sealed a dramatic victory for the Highlanders in a bruising clash.

The All Blacks' fly-half, who shifts to England at the end of the season, stepped up after the Crusaders had narrowed the gap to two points with 25 minutes remaining.

The Highlanders scored three tries to two in the fast-paced, entertaining New Zealand derby as the defending champions Crusaders suffered a second successive loss.

It is the first time in three years the Crusaders have lost back-to-back matches, having gone down 29-19 to the Wellington Hurricanes last week.

"It was a hell of a game. We knew it was going to go down to the wire," said relieved Highlanders skipper Ben Smith.

"We're still learning and it's still early in the competition. We just needed to make sure everyone was getting the right messages."

The Brumbies, after starting the season with an away win over the Sunwolves, suffered two demoralising losses to Australian rivals the Reds and the Rebels.

But in their first home game of the season, the Brumbies dug deep in defence to hold off a late surge from the Sharks.

With both teams scoring two tries, fly-half Wharenui Hawera's four penalties -- two from beyond 50 metres -- proved the difference.

"Tonight was a good match to win -- the Sharks are a quality side and in good form too so it's nice to get a win at home," Brumbies captain Christian Leali'ifano said.

cf-acd-qan-dl/dj