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Cheetahs smash Sunwolves to end losing streak

Cape Town - The Cheetahs were victorious for the first time in 10 Super Rugby matches when they beat the Sunwolves 47-7 in Tokyo on Saturday. 

AS IT HAPPENED: SUNWOLVES 7-47 CHEETAHS

The last time the Cheetahs won was on March 11, when they beat the Sunwolves 38-31 in Bloemfontein. 

It was far from the perfect showing from coach Franco Smith's men, even if they did score seven tries to one from the Sunwolves to secure a bonus-point. 

Handling errors plagued the Cheetahs' first half as the Sunwolves manufactured nothing on attack.

Despite creating numerous opportunities, the visitors could only take a 14-0 lead into the break after tries from Uzair Cassiem and Niell Jordaan. 

The Sunwolves defended with courage, but in truth the Cheetahs were poor when they needed to execute the finishing touches on their attacks. 

The Cheetahs went 19-0 up just after half-time when Niel Marais finished off a slick passing move in the corner, and at that stage it looked a step too far for the hosts. 

But the Sunwolves hit back soon after with lock Sam Wykes scoring under the posts following a sustained period of attack. 

The game opened up after that with both sides looking to throw the ball around, and while it did little for the error count it certainly made for some ambitious and entertaining attacking attempts.

The Cheetahs, though, were too good and they got better and better with their execution as the match went on.

Cassiem grabbed his second just before the 70 minute mark and when skipper Torsten van Jaarsveld crashed over soon afterwards, the scoreline began to look messy for the Sunwolves. 

Substitute Tian Meyer scored the Cheetahs' sixth through another good team try, while Sergeal Petersen got the seventh after the hooter. 

Scorers:

Sunwolves 7 (0)

Try: Sam Wykes

Conversion: Yu Tamura

Cheetahs 47 (14)

Tries: Uzair Cassiem (2), Niell Jordaan, Niel Marais, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Tian Meyer, Sergeal Petersen

Conversions: Marais (5), Francois Uys

Teams:

Sunwolves

15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 Derek Carpenter, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Shota Emi, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Keita Inagaki

Substitutes: 16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Yasuo Yamaji, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Jumpei Ogura, 23 William Tupou

Cheetahs

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Uzair Cassiem, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Francois Uys, 20 Niell Jordaan, 21 Junior Pokomela, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga

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