Parker's magical drop-goal sinks Stormers
The win is the Sunwolves' second consecutive victory after breaking the nine-match losing streak by beating the Reds in Tokyo last weekend. The Japan franchise followed it up with a first-ever victory over the Stormers in Hong Kong.
For the Stormers, the defeat just highlighted the side's horrendous away form. Thus far the side failed to record any way victories and found themselves at rock-bottom of the South African conference.
The Sunwolves produced a stunning second-half fightback which saw them overcome a 10-17 deficit at the break.
The match was played in extreme heat in the middle of the day and could have gone either way in the end.
The Stormers showed great character on defence in the early stages, soaking up the pressure from their hosts before striking back on the counter-attack.
Wing Dillyn Leyds picked up a loose ball in his own half and sprinted away, jinking and dummying his way to the corner before somehow placing the ball – at first Leyds' grounding appeared short but after confirmation by the TMO, the Stormers took the five-pointer.
The Stormers' scrums aided their efforts as they made that pressure count when centre JJ Engelbrecht made an interception in Sunwolves territory, before powering away to score the second try.
The Sunwolves finally were rewarded for all that possession, they got on the scoreboard thanks to the bounce of the ball which favoured Parker for his try.
The Stormers responded with a third try and Leyds’ second as he followed up on a great attacking grubber from scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage.
The Sunwolves had the final say in the first half through a Parker penalty, but it was the Stormers who took a 17-10 advantage into the half-time break.
The home side made a determined start to the second half and the pressure eventually told as lock Grant Hattingh broke through to score, levelling things up at 17-17 with 25 minutes left to play.
Another Parker penalty put the Sunwolves in the lead for the first time in the match, but the Stormers were back on level terms soon afterwards with a penalty from fullback SP Marais.
The teams traded penalties once more before Parker slotted a dramatic drop-goal to claim the win for his team.
Man of the match: Dillyn Leyds showed glimpses of what he can do with his spectacular runs. For the Sunwolves Fumiaki Tanaka had a good game, however for his cool and calm demeanour under loads of pressure our man of the match goes to Sunwolves flyhalf Hayden Parker.
The scorers:
For Sunwolves:
Tries: Parker, Hattingh
Cons: Parker 2
Pens: Parker 4
DG: Parker
For Stormers:
Tries: Leyds 2, Engelbrecht
Con: Du Plessis
Pens: Marais 2
Teams:
Sunwolves: 15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Kenki Fukuoka, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Michael Little, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Willem Britz, 7 Edward Quirk (captain), 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Sam Wykes, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Shintaro Ishihara.
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze 17 Craig Millar, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Jason Emery.
Stormers: 15 Sarel Marais, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Johannes Engelbrecht, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Jacobus Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Carlu Sadie, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Jan de Klerk, 20 Siyamthanda Kolisi, 21 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Raymond Rhule
Referee: Nicholas Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Tasuku Kawahara (Japan)
TMO: Minoru Fuji (Japan)
Source: @rugby365com & @TheStormers
