[2017 Super Rugby] Round 18: Sunwolves vs. Blues (15/07/2017)

[Brigantine]

The Sunwolves are bottom of the table, but they squeaked a losing bonus point in Hamilton, and on the rare occasions they've had a proper home advantage they have shown they can win.
(2 wins out of 8 games, beating the Jaguares in 2016 and Stormers in 2017)

The Blues couldn't win a single conference game all season, but they recently beat the B&I Lions.

Definite last game of the season for both sides, hopefully we'll see two full strength teams starting. The Blues have to be strong favourites, but still I don't think it's beyond the Sunwolves to cause an upset here.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium​

Time: 05:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

 

[Brigantine]

Sunwolves Team:

1 PR Koki YAMAMOTO
1990/10/29
181cm/118kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 14 SR CAPS 14

2 HO Takeshi HINO
1990/1/20
172cm/100kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 7 SR CAPS 7

3 PR Koo JIWON
1994/7/20
184cm/122kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 5 SR CAPS 5

4 LO Kotaro YATABE
1986/7/29
190cm/107kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 5 SR CAPS 5

5 LO Uwe HELU
1990/7/12
193cm/115kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 9 SR CAPS 9

6 FL Malgene ILAUA
1993/6/5
187cm/105kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 4 SR CAPS 4

7 FL Shuhei MATSUHASHI
1993/11/24 180cm/99kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 8

8 NO.8 Willem BRITZ ◎
1988/8/31
193cm/108kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 11 SR CAPS 34

9 SH Keisuke UCHIDA
1992/2/22
179cm/86kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 10 SR CAPS 10

10 SO Yu TAMURA
1989/1/9
181cm/91kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 23 SR CAPS 23

11 WTB Kenki FUKUOKA
1992/9/7
175cm/83kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 8

12 CTB Timothy LAFAELE
1991/8/19
186cm/98kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 8

13 CTB William TUPOU
1990/7/20
187cm/101kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 7 SR CAPS 20

14 WTB Kotaro MATSUSHIMA
1993/2/26
178cm/87kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 13

15 FB Riaan VILJOEN
1983/4/1
185cm/90kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 18 SR CAPS 67

16 RESERVE Yusuke NIWAI
1991/10/22
174cm/102kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 9 SR CAPS 9

17 RESERVE Keita INAGAKI
1990/6/2
186cm/116kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 18 SR CAPS 19

18 RESERVE Yasuo YAMAJI
1985/2/20
180cm/108kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 8

19 RESERVE Yuya ODO
1990/3/9
187cm/104kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 0 SR CAPS 0

20 RESERVE Yoshitaka TOKUNAGA
1992/4/10
185cm/100kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 5 SR CAPS 5

21 RESERVE Kaito SHIGENO
1990/11/21
170cm/75kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 17 SR CAPS 17

22 RESERVE Jumpei OGURA
1992/7/11
172cm/83kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 8 SR CAPS 8

23 RESERVE Ryohei YAMANAKA
1988/6/22
188cm/95kg
SUNWOLVES CAPS 10 SR CAPS 10

 

[The Jones Boy]

Come on The Bluuuuuues !!!
Conquerors of the mighty Lions !!

 

[Brigantine]

Hmm the odds for a Sunwolves win have shortened from $12 to $10. Darn, I put off placing my bet bc I thought it would move the *other* way.

Coach Tana Umaga has honoured the club's first ever clash against the Sunwolves with their strongest possible combination including the Blues' All Blacks Jerome Kaino, Faumuina, Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Akira Ioane.

Very strong Blues team, not a particularly strong Wolves team... what gives?

Weather: 33C, clear, winds at 11 kph.

 

[smartcooky]

43-21 with 3 to play.

Has this been the best half of rugby the Sunwolves have played in their history?

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

What the hell have I just witnessed?

 

[smartcooky]

Hang on, they ain't finished yet?

 

[smartcooky]

48 -21 (after trailing 14-21 at half-time)

 

[SomeOke]

Classic Blues, they were pretty poor today, not sure I understand the tactic of letting the Sunwolves play all the rugby.

Is this only the second foreign side to manage a NZ scalp this year? I have a feeling it is. Can't think of a Aussie side that has managed it.

 

[smartcooky]

What the hell it is with the Blues? No other team in NZ has the resources, the number of first grade teams or is so richly laden with talent as this team, and yet they have a mortgage on the bottom of the NZ Conference (and they looked every bit the cellar dwellers in this game).

Is Tana's job still secure after the debacle?

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

Is this only the second foreign side to manage a NZ scalp this year? I have a feeling it is. Can't think of a Aussie side that has managed it.

Hah yea it is! That's hilarious!

 

[smartcooky]

Classic Blues, they were pretty poor today, not sure I understand the tactic of letting the Sunwolves play all the rugby.

Is this only the second foreign side to manage a NZ scalp this year? I have a feeling it is. Can't think of a Aussie side that has managed it.

Yep. Stormers are the only other team to beat a NZ team this year, and they've done it twice (Blues & Chiefs) and both times at home

 

[The Jones Boy]

Oh dear...
The chance to go passed 40 points on the table goes begging
Where is our defence?

 

[Brigantine]

Is this only the second foreign side to manage a NZ scalp this year? I have a feeling it is. Can't think of a Aussie side that has managed it.

The Blues haven't managed any NZ scalps this season either.

Does this mean the Sunwolves are now the favourites to top the Australian conference in 2018?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Pretty crazy, not even a full strength Sunwolves either whilst the Blues were playing Kaino, West and Ioane.

Their coach Tiatia deserves massive credit, particularly given his relative lack of pedigree. I genuinely thought they wouldn't even get a losing bonus point this year as the schedule was far harder than last year and they had issues with signing players and only got a coach at the last minute. It shows they can compete if they are against a team that doesn't dominate them up front.

The British and Irish Lions lost to the Blues and no Australian side has defeated a NZ side in about 25 attempts this year. Yet the Sunwolves do this!

Ironically a Tier 2 NH country could end up saving Super Rugby financially if they can continue to develop. I think the Oz timezone and getting away from strong SA forward packs will help the Sunwolves no end. If they can keep their coach and have a more structured pre-season I think they could leap up to a four or five win team next year.

 

[Car]

Looking at the Australian conference this season, this really should help the Sunwolves a lot. They looked better in some of the matches I saw than several of the Aussie teams.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Congratulations to the Sunwolves, they are a great concept and they deserve the victory.
Tana, back to the drawing board.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Here are the scenes from the Sunwolves historic performance. The Blues seem to be trying but then start to panic. Matsushima continues his great form from the June tests. He is also slowly becoming world class aged 24 (born in South Africa apparently which may explain his distinctive appearance).

Partial highlights




Full match (starts to get surreal after 35mins and great atmosphere even if the size of crowd looks a little disappointing by Tokyo standards. Sunwolves missed at least three clear try opportunities. It could have been worse!).

 

[Larksea]

crazy result, while the SW's have looked like a dangerous team that can score points. have to think the conditions played a big part in this result.

game was played during the middle of the day with temps well into the 30's nearing the 40's? probably explains why the blues fell to bits after having a handy lead at halftime.