Eight-try DHL Stormers sink Sunwolves
The DHL Stormers ran in eight tries to claim a 52-15 victory against the Sunwolves at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
With their Vodacom Super Rugby quarterfinal place already assured as Africa Conference One champions, the DHL Stormers showed impressive attacking intent in their final home game of the regular season, with Cheslin Kolbe scoring a second consecutive hat-trick.
The visitors from Japan suffered an early blow when inside centre Derek Carpenter was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
The DHL Stormers took advantage soon afterwards when Kolbe latched on to a loose ball that had been hacked ahead to race away for the opening try.
The Sunwolves got on the scoreboard with a penalty from flyhalf Yu Tamura, but the DHL Stormers responded with a second try.
After being awarded an attacking scrum the forwards showed good patience on the Sunwolves tryline until it was sent wide and it was EW Viljoen who went over for the try after getting a pass from Nizaam Carr.
The Sunwolves were up against it and regrouped well as they hit back with a try of the own, with left wing Teruya Goto scoring in the corner.
The DHL Stormers would have the final say in the first half with a third try which was sparked from the back by Dillyn Leyds who threw a dummy to go through a gap and then put a kick over the top for Seabelo Senatla who scored in the corner to give his side a 19-10 advantage at the break.
The home side were first to strike in the second half as 19-year-old flyhalf Damian Willemse spotted a gap and charged straight up the middle of the pitch to score under the uprights.
The Sunwolves hit back with another try of their own as hooker Takeshi Hino forced his way over from close range to reduce the DHL Stormers’ advantage to 26-15 with 30 minutes left to play.
In response the DHL Stormers camped in Sunwolves territory and looked to have scored but Leyds was forced into touch in the corner.
However, he was not to be denied when some slick passing saw a gap open up for him to race through to put his team 33-15 up with 20 minutes left on the clock.
Leyds added another try shortly afterwards after racing through another gap, which gave the DHL Stormers a 38-15 buffer.
There was still time for two more tries for Kolbe as the DHL Stormers sealed a comfotable win in the end.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Kolbe 3, Viljoen, Senatla, Willemse, Leyds 2
Cons: Willemse 4, Kolbe 2
For Sunwolves:
Tries: Goto, Hino
Con: Tamura
Pen: Tamura
DHL Stormers: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Juarno Augustus, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Steph de Wit, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Dan Kriel, 23 Bjorn Basson.
Sunwolves: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Ryohei Yamanaka, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Teruya Goto, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willem Britz (captain), 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Takeshi Hino, 1 Koki Yamamoto.
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Koo Jiwon, 19 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Jumpei Ogura.
