Queensland’s Reds romped to a 64-5 bonus point Super rugby victory over Japan’s Sunwolves at Suncorp stadium in Brisbane.
The Reds outscored the Sunwolves by ten tries to one after leading the Japanese side 36-0 at half time.
The Reds victory is their fourth straight win over the Sunwolves and their first of the 2020 Super rugby season.
The result moves the Queenslanders provisionally into seventh place in the overall standings while the Sunwolves drop to thirteenth place.
The Reds started the 2020 season with losses to the Lions, Jaguares and Brumbies but got their first W of the season in their first home match of the season.
Brad Thorn’s Reds dominated all aspects of the contest which made it a lopsided affair.
The Reds ran in six tries in the opening half and then in the second another four tries.
Reds back Tate McDermott scored two of the Reds tries while the other eight were shared between another eight players.
Only when the Reds had reached the 50 point mark did they ease off enough to allow the Sunwolves to get on to the scoreboard.
A raft of substitutions may also have contributed to the Sunwolves being allowed into the match.
The Japanese side’s only points came Siosaia Fifita from a cross field kick and he beat Wallabies winger Henry Speight which let him score in the corner.
The Sunwolves briefly thought they had scored a second try but the TMO judged that their had been an infringement in the build up.
“It was brilliant, we’ve been dreaming about that for weeks. To put it into action was awesome,” said Reds captain Liam Wright.
“We didn’t change many of our processes (after their previous losses), that’s just our system. The win will do us a lot of good.”
Former Reds player and now Sunwolves captain Jake Schatz said that the hosts didn’t let them into the game.
“The Reds did what we wanted to do (to them) and kept us out of the game from the start.”
“They starved us of the ball so we will have to go back to the drawing board,” said the Sunwolves captain.
Next week the Reds host South Africa’s Sharks in Brisbane while the Sunwolves travel to Napier where they will play the Hurricanes.
Final Score Reds 64 (36) Sunwolves 5 (0)
Scorers
Reds
Tries – L.Wright, T.Tupou, H.Paisami, T.McDermott 2, L.Salakaia-Loto, J.O’Connor, H.Stewart, J.Nasser, I.Lucas
Pen –
Con – J.Campbell 6
Drop –
Cards –
Sunwolves
Tries – S.Fifita,
Pen –
Con –
Drop –
Cards – Ben Te’o (yellow 31st min)
Match Officials
Referee: Nic Berry
Assistant Ref 1: Jordan Way
Assistant Ref 2: Aaron Pook
TMO: James Leckie
Teams
Reds
15 Jock Campbell, 14 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 13 Hunter Paisami, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Henry Speight, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Liam Wright (captain), 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Angus Blyth, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 JP Smith
Replacements: 16 Ed Craig, 17 Harry Hoopert, 18 Josh Nasser, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Fraser McReight, 21 Scott Malolua, 22 Isaac Lucas, 23 Bryce Hegarty
Sunwolves
15 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 14 Siosaia Fifita, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Garth April, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Jake Schatz (captain), 7 Mitch Jacobson, 6 Kyo Yoshida, 5 Michael Stolberg, 4 Corey Thomas, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Chris Eves
Replacements: 16 Effie Ma’afu, 17 Nic Mayhew, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Tevita Tupou, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Keisuke Moriya, 23 Shogo Nakano
