The Blues have melted in the Tokyo heat, going down 48-21 to an unfancied Sunwolves outfit in their Super Rugby dead rubber in Japan.
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Final score
Sunwolves 48
Blues 21
The Sunwolves face extremely unlikely odds if they’re going to claim a second win for the season in their last match of the year, against the Blues. Join The Roar for live scores from the match at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon, starting from 1:05pm AEST.
The Sunwolves in their second year in the competition have struggled once again, boasting only a single win for the season and a -383 points differential, the worst in the league by some margin.
The simple fact is that they are a long distance off being competitive with the rest of the league – for now, at least.
The Blues, on the other hand, have a fair bone to pick with the conference system that will keep them out of the finals this year.
They have the eighth-best record in the league but will miss out on a finals spot because of the complications are the conference system.
Although the Brumbies have a worse record, they will get automatic qualification into finals as the top Australian side, pushing the Blues down to ninth on the table.
A win here by the Blues will be another reminder to the powers that be in Super Rugby that they really ought to be playing in the post-season.
Sunwolves
15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Willy Tupou, 12 Timothy Lafaele, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Tu Tamura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz (c), 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Kotaro Yatabe, 3 Koo Jiwon, 2 Takeshi Hino, 1 Koki Yamamoto.Replacements: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Yasuo Yamaji, 19 Yuya Odo, 20 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Jumpei Ogura, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka.
Blues
15 Michael Collins, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 George Moala, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Melani Nanai, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Augustine Pulu, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons (c), 1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi.Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Josh Goodhue, 20 Jerome Kaino, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Stephen Perofeta, 23 Rene Ranger.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match between the Sunwolves and the Blues at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon, starting from 1:05pm AEST.