Parker kicks Sunwolves to 26-23 win over Stormers
Sunwolves completed their second win of the season
©PA
Sunwolves 26-23 Stormers, Mong Kok Stadium
Scorecard
Hayden Parker kicked the decisive penalty goal in the closing minute as Sunwolves edged out Stormers 26-23 in their Super Rugby face-off at Mong Kok Stadium on Saturday.
This is Sunwolves' second successive win of the season but despite that, they remain at the bottom of Australian Conference while Stormers are at fourth in the South African group. Stormers got the first points on the board when Dillyn Leyds capitalised on a crossfield kick from Parker to score the opening try in the sixth minute.
The errors from the host proved costly for the hosts as JJ Engelbrecht intercepted a pass from Willie Britz to score their second try that came in the 21st minute and this time Jean-Luc du Plessis slotted the extras as they scored 12 unanswered points.
The response from Sunwolves came finally in the 23rd minute when Fumiaki Tanaka and Timothy Lafaele built up to send Parker over the line. He also added a conversion as the gap came down to five points before Leyds with his second stretched the lead back to 10 points.
Parker, who was the only points scorer for the home side in the first half kicked a penalty goal at the stroke of half time as the scoreline became 10-17 heading into the break.
After the first 15 minutes in the second half went without a point, Grant Hattingh crashed past the line following an offload from Michael Leitch and Parker's conversion helped them level the scores 17-17. The fly-half also kicked another penalty goal shortly to take Sunwolves to three-point lead.
SP Marais put Stormers back into the lead with back to back penalties and with two minutes left in the game, Parker kicked a three-pointer to level the scores and a minute later he scored the decisive drop goal to complete a three-point victory for Sunwolves.
