Sunwolves denied second ever Super Rugby win by Stormers

Vincent Koch saves the Stormers blushes with his late try

Prop Vincent Koch scored a try in the last minute as South Africa's Stormers came from 14 points down to snatch a 17-17 draw against Super rugby newcomers the Sunwolves at Singapore's National Stadium on Saturday.

Lock Pieter-Steph du Toit also scored for the Stormers, who extended their lead in the South African group standings with the draw while denying the Sunwolves their second Super Rugby win.

Japanese winger Akihito Yamada scored a try and had another disallowed as the Sunwolves looked certain to pull off a huge upset only to fade in the last 20 minutes on a hot and humid night in Singapore.

Yamada, who had already scored four times in his team's two previous matches at their adopted second home, took over as the tournament's leading tryscorer with his eighth touchdown this season when he dived over from the back of a ruck in the 13th minute.

He was initially awarded a second try five minutes into the second half but the score was cancelled out by the television match official after replays showed that Yamada had not properly grounded the ball.

The Sunwolves fly-half Tusi Pisi booted his fourth penalty shortly after to give the tournament newcomers a commanding 17-3 lead before the Stormers took control and began to turn their domination of the set pieces into points.

The Sunwolves blew an 18-point lead when they lost to the Cheetahs at Singapore in March and their supporters feared another meltdown when du Toit scored a try off the back of a driving maul and Jean-Luc du Plessis nailed the conversion to cut the margin to seven points with 20 minutes left on the clock.

The Sunwolves had the chance to shoot for a penalty that would have given them a 10-point lead with three minutes to go, but opted instead for the lineout and paid dearly when the Stormers launched one last raid in the final minute.

Koch, who had fresh legs after coming on as a replacement, crashed over for the try and fly-half Brandon Thomson calmly added the conversion to seal the draw.