Sunwolves take a mauling at the hands of rampant Stormers
The touring Sunwolves took a mauling at the hands of the Stormers who ran in seven tries en route to a 46-19 bonus-point victory in their Super Rugby clash at Newlands on Friday evening.
There were early signs that the Stormers were going run the ball at every opportunity, even from deep options, and that meant that Sunwolves defence would be severely tested.
Initially, the visiting Japanese defence stood firm as they held out the Stormers’ attempts to cross the whitewash. However, once the Stormers started attacking in the wider channels, they found openings in the Sunwolves defence who went on to concede four tries in the 14 minutes.
Flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe sparked the four-try effort with a touchdown in the 10th minute, and six minutes later centre Kobus van Wyk followed suit.
Hooker Siyabonga Ntubeni grabbed the bonus-point try in the 22nd minute and the crowd were hardly back in their seats when midfielder Juan de Jongh sprinted in. Debutant flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis, who had earlier goaled a 5th-minute penalty, was on target with the conversion attempts for first and the last try (27-0).
The Sunwolves staged a fightback soon afterwards and a thrilling hand-to-hand move down the Grandstand touchline ended with their SA-born fullback Riaan Viljoen running in at the corner flag for an unconverted try to round off the first-half scoring (27-5).
The Stormers were in for another surprise when they failed to cope with an instance of enterprise in the Sunwolves backline and scrumhalf Yuki Yatomi and his halfback partner Yu Tamura added the extra points with the conversion (27-12).
This 12-point setback proved to be a wake-up call for the Stormers and they showed a renewed sense of urgency which produced two tries in the three minutes, to secure their bonus point. Notshe grabbed his second of the night in the 50th minute and three minutes later scrumhalf Louis Schreuder ran in unchallenged after the Sunwolves’ central defence collapsed. Du Plessis banged over both conversions (41-12).
Despite a host of attacking movements in the final stages of the game, the only advance on the scoreboard came via a converted try by Viljoen, his second of the night, and another at the death for Du Plessis (46-19)
Scorers: Stormers 46 (27): Tries: Sikhumbuzo Notshe (2), Kobus Van Wyk, Siyabonga Ntubeni, Juan De Jongh, Louis Schreuder, Jean-Luc du Plessis. Conversions: Du Plessis (4). Penalty: Du Plessis
Sunwolves 19 (5): Tries: Riaan Viljoen (2), Yuki Yatomi. Conversions: Yu Tamura (2)
In the curtain-raiser, Western Province defeated the Blue Bulls 30-16 in their first round Currie Cup qualifier clash. - ANA