Sunwolves Draw 17-17 with Stormers in Super Rugby League at Singapore Sports Hub 2016 May

On a hot and humid evening in Singapore Sports Hub, the Sunwolves almost pulled off an upset win over the more experienced South Africa’s Stomers on 14 May 2016 in the Super Rugby League game.

The Sunwolves wasted an 18-point lead when they lost to the Cheetahs at the same venue in Singapore two months ago and the Singapore Sports Hub supporters feared another breakdown when Stormers scored a try off the back of a driving maul and also had the rugby conversion to reduce the margin to seven points with 20 minutes left of the game.

The game was super exciting at the closing stages. South Africa’s Stormers’s Vincent Koch scored a late try in the last minute as the team came from 14 points down to manage a 17-17 draw against Super Rugby newcomers the Sunwolves at Singapore's National Stadium. The supporters were a bit disappointed that the Sunwolves did not get a win in Singapore which was the team’s second home ground, besides Tokyo. The Stormers extended their lead in the group standings with the draw while denying the Sunwolves their second Super Rugby win.

During the match, the Sunwolves was denied a second try five minutes into the second half but the score was cancelled out by the television match official after replays showed that the player Akihito Yamada had not properly grounded the ball. Yamada, who had already scored four times in his team's two previous matches at their adopted second home, took over as the tournament's leading tryscorer with his eighth touchdown this season when he dived over for a try in the 13th minute.

In the beginning of the game, the Sunwolves which were the tournament newcomers, had a commanding 17-3 lead before the Stormers took control and used set plays to gain points.

The Sunwolves had the chance to get more points from a penalty that would have given them a 10-point lead with three minutes to go before the game ends, but opted instead for the lineout and paid poorly when the Stormers launched one last raid in the final minute which ended in managing to draw the game.

Sunwolves looked certain to pull off a huge upset only to fade in the last 20 minutes on a humid night in Singapore. During the press conference, the coach of Sunwolves and the captain explained that with this experience the team would fight harder and win the coming matches in the Super Rugby league.