The Sunwolves have registered an historic 31-29 Super Rugby victory against the Waratahs in Newcastle, just north of Sydney. The closely contested affair saw both sides scoring four tries.
This was the Sunwolves’ second win of the season in seven matches. In the other match played earlier, the Crusaders bounced back from last weekend’s defeat and beat the Hurricanes 32-8 in a New Zealand derby in Wellington.
The Waratahs were always going to be the overwhelming favourites against the Sunwolves in Newcastle. It took Nick Phipps just ninety seconds to score the first try of the match. The visitors then reduced the deficit via the boot of Hayden Parker. Cameron Clark scored the second try of the match for the home-side.
The Sunwolves were not to be outdone with Grant Hattingh scoring their first try of the match.
Then the visitors unexpectedly took the lead ten minutes before the break when Semisi Masirewa scored their second try of the match, giving the Sunwolves a 17-15 lead at the break.
The Waratahs were back in front after Michael Hooper’s try early in the second half.
The Sunwolves had other ideas, with Masirewa scoring two quick tries to help the visitors regain the lead. The Waratahs struck back with their fourth try of the match to reduce the deficit fifteen minutes from the final whistle but the visitors managed to hang on for a famous 31-29.
Super Rugby defending champions who lost to the Waratahs last weekend, outscored the Hurricanes by four tries to one at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
The nine time Super Rugby champions scored two tries in each half to register the away victory.
Their first two were scored in the opening minutes through Will Jordan and David Havili running almost half the field to cross the line. However Ngani Laumape got a try for the homeside a few minutes later to put the half-time score at 17-8.
It was one way traffic in the second half as the Crusaders scored two more tries to register a convincing 32-8 victory.
