The Sunwolves notched their first win of the season, the Blues got Sonny Bill Williams back, but lost, and the Brumbies maintained their dominance in the Australian Conference in the three early Super Rugby games yesterday.
The Blues’ woeful away run in New Zealand derbies continued as the Otago Highlanders won 26-20 in Dunedin, shutting out Auckland in a 13-point second half to overturned a 20-13 halftime deficit.
Williams, out of action since an Achilles injury picked up playing Sevens at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics eight months ago, and not having played 15s rugby since the 2015 World Cup final, laid on a trademark offload that should have led to a try after he came on as a substitute with three points in the game.
Photo: EPA
He split the Highlanders’ defense and put the Blues into a position to regain the lead, but the move fell apart deep inside the Highlanders 22.
Williams then made a mess of a pass, which allowed the Highlanders to pounce, sparking a 90m move that ended with the Blues penalized while scrambling to defend on their own line.
Marty Banks, who did not miss a kick, landed the penalty to push the margin out to six points, leaving the Blues spending the final eight minutes searching unsuccessfully for a converted try to win.
The Blues, who have not won an away game in New Zealand since they beat the Hurricanes in Wellington in 2013, slipped to the bottom of the New Zealand conference behind the Highlanders.
Ben Smith and Malakai Fekitoa scored tries for the Highlanders, with Banks landing two conversions and four penalties.
The Blues’ points came from tries to Charlie Faumuina and Gerard Cowley, both converted by Piers Francis, who also landed two penalties.
In Tokyo, Yu Tamura kicked a penalty goal in the 74th minute as the Sunwolves edged the South Africa-based Bulls 21-20.
Travis Ismaiel ran in a try in the 64th minute that was converted by Tiaan Schoeman to give the visitors a 20-11 lead, but the hosts responded six minutes later on a try by Takaaki Nakazuru that was converted by Tamura to cut the lead to 20-18.
Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco’s try in the seventh minute gave the Sunwolves an early 5-0 lead and a penalty by Hayden Cripps four minutes later made it 8-0.
Burger Odendaalin ran in a try the 13th that was converted by Schoeman to cut the lead to 8-7. Cripps added another penalty in the first half.
The win was the Japan-based side’s second in their Super Rugby history after only winning once last season, their first year in the competition.
In Canberra, the ACT Brumbies trounced the Queensland Reds 43-10 with tries to Tevita Kuridrani, Robbie Abel, Aidan Toua, Jarrad Butler, James Dargaville and Chris Alcock. Wharenui Hawera kicked 13 points.
The Reds’ points came through a Chris Kuridrani try, and a conversion and penalty by James Tuttle.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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