The visitors were on the board as soon as the 22nd second of the match when Shota Emi went over for a try from the kick-off.

The Cheetahs ran in four tries during their the match with the captain Torsten van Jaarsveld, Oupa Mohoje, Clinton Swart and Rayno Benjamin all crossing the white wash.

The flyhalf Fred Zeilinga was once again in top form with the boot by contributing 18 of the team’s points.

For the Japanese outfit the nippy winger Kenki Fukuoka scored a brace of tries while Hayden Cripps also dotted down.

This without a doubt the Sunwolves' best performance in the Super Rugby this season and the captain Ed Quick says there is a really positive environment within the team.

“We’re learning each week, that’s the glory about rugby. You learn from your mistakes”, said the flanker.

“For us as a team, you now we’re not going to set the world on fire but we’re learning each week. 

"As you saw, compared to last week against the Kings and obviously the Hurricanes game… huge steps.

“We had a really good week of prep and the boys are just really enjoying themselves on tour and it showed out there.

“We were just willing to have a crack and for us it was just pure enjoyment out there.”

The Cheetahs' coach, Franco Smith, in his turn said that he is happy with the win and important lessons were learnt.

“The important lesson this week was that after a really big win or high, where you are on top of it, you cannot linger on that until Wednesday in Super Rugby, you have to start again immediately.

“I think some of the errors made tonight symbolised that.

“I’m not going to make excuses, we are really happy about the win so we are going to look to the next one and use the positive and negatives to go forward”.

On an injury front both Tier Schoeman and Clinton Swart have passed their concussion tests, however, the protocol will be followed during the course of the week. 

Slightly more serious is the injury to Raymond Rhule. The winger who has been impressing all season picked up a knee injury and will undergo a scan on Monday. At this stage it's thoughy to be a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) strain.

The Cheetahs travel to Argentina this week where they will tackle the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.

Smith is expected to name his traveling squad by Tuesday afternoon.

Scorers: 

Cheetahs: Tries – Torsten van Jaarsveld, Oupa Mohoje, Clinton Swart, Rayno Benjamin Conv. – Fred Zeilinga 3 Pen. – Zeilinga 4.

Sunwolves: Tries – Shota Emi, Hayden Cripps, Kenki Fukuoka 2 Conv. – Hayden Cripps 2, Jamie-Jerry Taulagi 2.

Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Zee Mkhabela, 13 Rayno Benjamin, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Tier Schoeman, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Charles Marais.

Replacements – 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Armandt Koster, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Niel Marais, 22 Ali Mgjijima, 23 Ruan van Rensburg.

Sunwolves - 15 Shota Emi, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 William Tupou, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Hayden Cripps, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Shumei Matsuhashi, 6 Eddy Quirk (captain), 5 Uwe Hela, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Yasuo Yamaji, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Koki Yamamoto.

Replacements - 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Sam Wykes, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Jumpei Ogura, 23 Jamie-Jerry Taulagi.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport