Pisi boots Sunwolves to historic win
The historic win marks one of the most remarkable comeback, after the Sunwolves were hammered 92-17 by the Cheetahs just a week ago.
The Argentinean side outscored their Japanese counterparts by four tries to three.
However, the boot of Pisi not just kept the Sunwolves in the game, he kicked them ahead and set up a match-clinching try in the dying stages.
The Sunwolves' win came after a miserable start to their debut season – a run of seven successive defeats.
"To get this historic win in Japan is very special," Sunwolves captain Shota Horie told reporters.
"We had to try to forget what happened in our last game and put everything on the line and luckily we did that."
The Sunwolves have endured a torrid first season in Super Rugby, with last week's humiliating 17-92 defeat to the Cheetahs marked yet another low.
The Jaguares, who boast 13 of the Argentina side that reached last year's World Cup semifinals, looked set to snap a six-match losing streak as they opened a 13-8 half-time lead.
Captain Agustin Creevy crashed over early before Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino and Emiliano Boffelli added brilliant tries, but Juan Martin Hernández missed all three conversions – which was to prove costly.
A converted try from Facundo Isa gave the visitors a 25-16 advantage before the Sunwolves, roared on by their army of howling fans, came storming back, sparked by a slashing try from New Zealander Derek Carpenter.
Pisi, who is set to join English second-tier club Bristol at the end of the season, held his nerve to fire the Sunwolves back in front 29-28 before Harumichi Tatekawa burst over with the final play to trigger wild scenes at the buzzer.
Before the match, the teams observed a minute's silence for the victims of last week's deadly earthquakes in southern Japan.
"We were deeply sorry not to be able to bring the people of Kyushu any relief in our last game," said Horie.
"I would be very happy if this win can offer them some small hope at this difficult time."
Two teams who have been criss-crossing the globe in recent weeks wilted as the second half wore on but Amorosino refused to blame fatigue.
"That's the not the reason," he said.
"This tournament is very hard for everyone. We have to look at the video and start again."
Man of the match: The Jaguares were mostly pedestrian, although players like Juan Martin Hernández and Juan Manuel Leguizamon had their moments. For the Sunwolves Riaan Viljoen, Derek Carpenter, Ed Quirk, Liaki Moli and captain Shota Horie all produced outstanding performances. However, our man of the match is Sunwolves flyhalf Tusi Pisi – who not only produced a superb kicking performance, both out of hand and at goal, but directed the show and had a massive hand in his team's three tries.
The scorers:
For the Sunwolves:
Tries: Sasakura, Carpenter, Tatekawa
Cons: Viljoen, Pisi 2
Pens: Pisi 4, Viljoen
For the Jaguares:
Tries: Creevy, Amorosino, Boffelli, Isa
Cons: Hernández
Pens: Hernández 2
Teams:
Sunwolves: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Viliami Lolohea, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Mifiposeti Paea, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Ed Quirk, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 5 Liaki Moli, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 2 Shota Horie (captain), 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Ziun Gu, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Taiyo Ando, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yasutaka Sasakura.
Jaguares: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Lucas González Amorosino, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Felipe Arregui.
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Rodrigo Báez, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Joaquín Paz, 23 Emiliano Boffelli.
Referee: Jamie Nutbrown
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock, Noriaki Hashimoto
TMO: Takashi Hareda
