In an historic day of rugby in Tokyo, the Lions over-powered the Sunwolves in an entertaining and competitive game.
First half
The game got off to a scrappy start, going end to end with both teams having opportunities in attack but being let down by handling errors. The Sunwolves took the chance to register their first ever points via a penalty from Pisi. The Lions had an opportunity to level the scores at the ten minute mark but Janties missed a penalty shot from right in front of the posts.
The Lions were starting to exercise their scrum dominance, over-powering the Sunwolves resulting in another missed penalty shot from Janties.
The Lions were superior on attack also and forced their opponents to work hard on defence. The Japanese team competed hard at the breakdowns but struggled to contain the Lions’ power and speed. Fortunately for them the handling errors of the Lions let them off the hook.
The South Africans were able to use their set piece strength after 18 minutes in an attacking lineout. Hooker Robbie Coetzee scored the first try of the game from the driving maul, which the locals couldn’t defend, but Janties missed the conversion. Lions 5-3.
Soon afterwards the Sunwolves looked promising in attack and broke through the line on the way to what looked like their first-ever try, but were denied by the referee who made a tough call of obstruction.
At the half hour mark they look set for their first try again after good passage of attacking play, breaking through the Lions line off the back of the ruck, but were called back for being offside.
With five minutes left in the half the Lions opened up the Sunwolves out wide and put speedster Courtnall Skosan into space to score. They never looked like running him down and the conversion brought the score to 12-3 Lions.
Pisi closed the gap by converting a penalty just prior to the break.
Half time score: Lions 12 – Sunwolves 6.
Second half
The Lions came out of the blocks quickly in the second half, immediately mounting an attacking raid resulting in a try to flanker Jaco Kriel in the first two minutes.
The Lions were controlling the game now, and on attack once more were rewarded with a penalty five metres out from the the goal-line of the home team. They were confident of their superior scrum and took that option to earn a try one way or the other, but were surprised to see the Sunwolves stand up to the challenge and win a relieving scrum penalty.
At last, near the hour mark the locals were able to attack after a turnover from a lineout, and after receiving a good pass their skipper Shota Horie scored the first-ever try for the Sunwolves, much to the delight of the crowd. With the conversion the score was 19-13 to the Lions—and there were still 20 minutes to go.
But the Sunwolves suffered a blow at the 65 minute mark when Pisi received a dubious yellow card for a breakdown infringement.
The Lions exploited their one-man advantage over a tiring Sunwolves, and winger Lionel Mapoe scored off the next passage of play.
With the score 26-13 to the South Africans the Sunwolves showed their resolve by containing repeated attacks on their line right up to the end. The game ended on that note with a Lions’ runner held up in-goal.
[one_half last=”no”]
Game Changer
The yellow card to Pisi halted the Sunwolves fightback and denied us what could have been an exciting last 15 minutes. [/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Man of the match
There were good performances on both sides but for me it was not one but all of the Sunwolves forwards who fought hard and hung in there against a quicker and stronger Lions pack.[/one_half]
Score and scorers
[one_half last=”no”]
Sunwolves – 13
Tries: S. Horie (60)
Conversions T. Pisi 1
Penalties: T. Pisi 2 [/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Lions – 26
Tries: R. Coetzee (19), C. Skosan (35), J. Kriel (42), L. Mapoe (67)
Conversions: E. Jantjies 3 [/one_half]
Cards: T. Pisi (65min)
Crowd: 25,000
