THE Sun wolves rounded off their second year in Super Rugby with a maiden win over New Zealand opposition, upsetting the Blues 48-21 in the final round of the season.
With two years to go until Japan hosts their first Rugby World Cup, the Tokyo-based franchise relied on Samoan centre Timothy Lafaele to kick start a second-half comeback after the Blues took a 21-14 lead into the break.
A sin bin for flanker Jerome Kaino proved the turning point as his high tackle on Willy Tupou saw him sent to the sidelines.
Using the extra man to their advantage the hosts scored 12 unanswered points through a penalty try and Kaito Shigeno.
The All Black back-row returned to the field to find the balance of the game firmly in the hands of the Sun wolves, coached by former Osprey Filo Tiatia, who scored five tries in the second half.
Lafaele steered his team to only a second win of the season and claimed a hat trick in the process with two late scores to add to his first-half try.
Yoshitaka Tokunaga concluded proceedings by scoring the Sun wolves eighth try of the match, a dent to the egos of New Zealand’s ‘almost’ team who have lost as many games as they have won.
Blues coach Tana Umaga kept his players out of the firing line and took the blame upon himself, saying: “I’ve got to look at myself and the way I help prepare this team and whether we did that right coming over early and trying to motivate them for a one-off game after the break. I'll look at myself first before I look at the players and that performance.”
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