Cape Town - The Stormers narrowly escaped making unwanted history when they stumbled and fumbled their way to victory over the Sunwolves in Singapore on Saturday.
As it happened: Sunwolves v Stormers
The Stormers won 44-31 after trailling 24-20 at half-time.
The Stormers, who were outplayed for large parts of the match at the Singapore National Stadium, scored six tries through flank Rynhardt Elstadt, centre EW Viljoen, prop Wilco Louw, scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage, hooker Bongi Mbonambi and wing Bjorn Basson.
Flyhalf Robert du Preez added four conversions and two penalties.
The Sunwolves, who went afraid to give the ball air at every opportunity, replied with four tries though impressive centre Derek Carpenter (2), wing Shota Emi and lock Liaki Moli.
Flyhalf Jumpei Ogura landed all four conversions as well as a penalty.
The Stormers, who were reduced to 14 men on two occasions after yellow cards were issued to Elstadt and replacement prop Oli Kebble, picked up four points for their victory and extended their lead atop the Africa Conference 1 and moved to the summit of the South African Group.
The Sunwolves left empty-handed.
Coach Rob Fleck will no doubt read the riot act to his players - who were embarrassingly poor at times - ahead of their Round 6 match against the Cheetahs at Newlands in Cape Town next weekend (Saturday, April 1 at 15:05).
The Sunwolves, still searching for their first win of the season, have next weekend off.
Teams:
Sunwolves
15 Jamie-Jerry Taulagi, 14 Shota Emi, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Jumpei Ogura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Ed Quirk (captain), 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Heiichiro Ito, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Koki Yamamoto
Substitutes: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Shumei Matsuhashi, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Hayden Cripps, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka
Stormers
15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Siya Kolisi (captain), 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg
Substitutes: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Oli Kebble, 19 Jan de Klerk, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Dan du Plessis