Kings overrun Sunwolves to win in Singapore
SINGAPORE: South Africa’s Southern Kings rebounded from last week’s loss to the Jaguares to register their first Super Rugby win away from home since 2013 with a 37-23 victory over Japan’s Sunwolves yesterday.
Despite suffering a heavy injury toll and struggling to cope with Singapore’s stifling humidity, the Kings outmuscled and outsmarted the Sunwolves to triumph in a highscoring clash between the bottom two sides from last season.
The Kings got two first half tries from replacements Rudi van Rooyen and Chris Cloete against the run of play and two more in the second term from number eight Ruan Lerm and impressive winger Malcolm Jaer as they asserted their dominance.
The Sunwolves, whose only win in their debut Super Rugby season last year was against the Jaguares, showed a marked improvement on last week’s humiliating 83-17 loss to the Hurricanes in Tokyo but coughed up too much ball and kicked away too much possession to mount a sustained challenge.
They did manage a first half try from bustling centre Timothy Lafaele and two late consolation touchdowns from Kenki Fukuoka and Takaaki Nakazuru but trailed throughout the match.
The Kings sprinted 90 metres to score the opening try on the counter-attack when the Sunwolves failed to clean up their own ruck ball after launching a promising raid.
Jaer scooped up a loose ball and darted down the blindside before offloading to replacement scrumhalf van Rooyen to score near the posts. The Sunwolves hit back almost immediately and were rewarded for one of the few times in the match that they chanced their arm, when they opted for a quick tap and spun the ball wide to Lafaele who stepped inside a defender and crashed over the line.
Jaer, who caused the Sunwolves plenty of headaches every time he got the ball, set up a second try for another replacement just before the break. He split the defence off the back of a lineout and was dragged down inside the Sunwolves quarter, and Cloete, who had just come on the field, was the first to the breakdown and strolled through to score unopposed.
Lerm put the result beyond the doubt when he barged over from a rolling maul before a frantic ending which saw three tries in the last five minutes. Fukuoka scored off an intercept then Baer was rewarded for his fine efforts all night when he dived in the left corner before Nakazuru finished off the scoring with a try out wide on the siren. —AFP