The Hurricanes scored 13 tries as they annihilated the Sunwolves 83-17 in Tokyo on Saturday.
This is not the sort of result you want to see in Super Rugby. It was no fair contest, rather more of a Hurricanes free-for-all as they scored almost at will and repeatedly punished a Sunwolves side that simply had no answer.
Yes, the Sunwolves have again had a pre-season blighted by limited preparation time, and yes, the Hurricanes were on fire as they got their title defence off to a flying start, but such a one-sided result does not serve as a great advert for Super Rugby.
As it is, the biggest Super Rugby winning margin of 89 (the Bulls beat the Reds 92-3 in 2007), looked very much under threat around the hour mark when the Canes led 83-5, but in the end the Sunwolves at least managed to stave off this unwanted record.
In the first half, the Canes ran in seven tries as they ran up a 45-5 lead, with Ardie Savea securing a brace, while the visitors add six more tries to their tally in the second stanza.
Despite the heavy defeat, the Sunwolves should at least receive some credit for the gutsy manner in which they finished the match, with Shokei Kin and South African Willie Birtz scoring the final two tries of the encounter.
Sunwolves – Tries: Riaan Viljoen, Shokei Kin, Willie Britz. Conversion: Timothy Lafaele.
Hurricanes – Tries: Ardie Savea (2), Cory Jane (2), TJ Perenara, Ricky Riccitelli, Julian Savea, Ngani Laumape, Blade Thomson, Michael Fatialofa, Brad Shields, Vince Aso, Wes Goosen. Conversions: Otere Black (9).
Sunwolves – 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Hikaru Tamura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willem Britz, 7 Edward Quirk, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Heiichiro Ito, 2 Shota Horie (c), 1 Masataka Mikami.
Subs: 16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Ryohei Yamanaka, 23 Shota Emi.
Hurricanes – 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Otere Black, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Michael Fatialofa, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Jeffery To’omaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Chris Eves.
Subs: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ben May, 18 Mike Kainga, 19 Reed Prinsep, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Vince Aso.
Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura/Getty Images
