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Cape Town - The Waratahs overpowered the winless Sunwolves to clinch their third straight Super Rugby win on Saturday.
As it happened: Sunwolves v Waratahs
The Waratahs won 50-29, after leading 38-17 at half-time.
Fresh from an Australian derby victory over the Brumbies in Canberra, the Waratahs scored seven tries, while the struggling Sunwolves grabbed four.
Scrumhalf Jake Gordon scored the opening try for the Waratahs after an excellent run by Taqele Naiyaravoro in strong wind at Tokyo's Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
The Sunwolves, cheered on by the local crowd, quickly levelled the scores at 7-7 as Michael Little penetrated the defence and crossed the line, followed by the conversion.
But the visitors took the lead again with four more tries in the first half, including the second by Gordon, and five conversions by Bernard Foley.
The Waratahs widened the gap in the second half as skipper Michael Hooper posted a try following a line-out shortly after the break.
The Japanese side fought back fiercely as Semisi Masirewa fended off aggressive tackles and scored a try.
Kazuki Himeno, following his Fijian team-mate, dived over for a try for the Sunwolves after Hooper was sin-binned.
But the Sunwolves' counter-attack was in vain as Naiyaravoro crossed in the corner for the visitors.
The Waratahs improved their record to four wins from six games, while the Sunwolves stretched their losing steak to six straight defeats. They have now lost 32 of 36 games since joining Super Rugby in 2016.
The Waratahs maintained their best start to a Super Rugby season since 2009.
In next weekend's Round 9 action, the Sunwolves host the Blues (Saturday, 05:05 SA time) and the Waratahs travel back home to take on the Reds (Saturday, 11:45 SA time).
Scorers:
Sunwolves
Tries: Little, Wykes, Masirewa, Himeno
Conversions: Tamura (2)
Penalties: Tamura
Waratahs
Tries: Gordon (2), Rona, Miller, Hegarty, Hooper, Naiyaravoro
Conversions: Foley (6)
Penalties: Foley
Teams:
Sunwolves
15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Lomano Lemeki, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Michael Little, 11 Semisi Masirewa, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yutaka Nagare (captain), 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5 Sam Wykes, 4 James Moore, 3 Jiwon Koo, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Craig Millar
Substitutes: 16 Jaba Bregvadse, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Nikoloz Khatiashvili, 19 Wimpie van der Walt, 20 Edward Quirk, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Hayden Parker, 23 Hosea Saumaki
Waratahs
15 Bryce Hegarty, 14 Alex Newsome, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Will Miller, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Ned Hanigan, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Tom Robertson
Substitutes: 16 Hugh Roach, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Jed Holloway, 21 Mitchell Short, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Cameron Clark
