Sunwolves coach Tony Brown praised the mental resilience of his team Saturday night following their thrilling 42-37 win over the Bulls at Singapore National Stadium.

Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco's 75th-minute try -- converted by Hayden Parker, who finished the day with 17 points courtesy of a try and six conversions from as many attempts -- saw the Japanese side make history on a number of fronts.

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It was their first win in Singapore, one of their homes away from home, and the first time they had beaten the same side twice in their short history that also saw them put together a two-game winning streak against South African opposition.

"The mental side is massive...and we've made massive strides in our ability to handle those (high-pressure) moments in games, to put teams under pressure and to keep playing our game," said Brown, whose side spent 10 minutes either side of the break down to 14 men after Willie Britz was sent to the sin bin.

"We knew if we stuck to doing what we planned to do, we'd get a result. You want to break records, make history, and we're building a team, building a culture to put the boys in a position to also do better next year."

The Sunwolves trailed 21-14 at the break after throwing away a 14-0 lead courtesy of what in truth were three gift tries, as a charge down, a dreadful attempt at a quick line-out and some missed tackles allowed the Bulls to go in front.

"We had a few soft moments, made two or three mistakes and they scored off them," said Sunwolves captain Britz, who made up for his yellow card with one of his side's four second-half tries.

But Brown -- who is in charge of the side for the remainder of the season while Jamie Joseph deals with a back injury -- was adamant the high-risk approach was the right one for his team to adopt.

"We had to chance our arm. That was the way to beat the Bulls," he said. "That mindset created the win. It didn't work in the first half but in the second everyone had that mindset."

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The Sunwolves had just 40 percent of possession and lost out on the territory stakes by 62 percent to 38 as the South African forwards used their physicality to starve the Sunwolves of the ball.

But as Bulls captain Handre Pollard pointed out, the Sunwolves -- inspired by Parker and Michael Little -- took nearly every chance that came their way.

"We weren't clinical enough while the Sunwolves converted almost all of theirs," Pollard said. "They were very good on the ground and capitalized on their opportunities."

"We knew they would play for 80 minutes, that's the way Japanese teams play," added the flyhalf, who was in the Springboks side that lost to the Brave Blossoms at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Key to playing the full 80 minutes was the way Brown used the replacements, an area of the game that showcases the advances made by the side. No longer a bench of damage control, the Sunwolves now have "finishers" who can make a real impact.

The introduction of Fumiaki Tanaka early in the second half saw the Sunwolves raise the pace of the game in hot, muggy conditions, while Warren-Vosayaco and Ryoto Nakamura also made telling contributions off the bench.

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In addition to his five-pointer, Warren-Vosayaco provided the offload for Little to score a well-deserved try, which started when Nakamura -- who also added a key turnover in the closing stages -- showed great skill under pressure to free up Semisi Masirewa to launch a counterattack deep in his own 22.

"Fumi changed the momentum and everyone filled in and did their job," Brown said.

His Bulls counterpart, John Mitchell, praised the Sunwolves. But his frustration with the way his side performed in the closing stages and with a number of the decisions from the officials -- who struggled with their communication throughout -- was evident.

"Congratulations to the Sunwolves, they endured the contest, fought to the end and got what they wanted. But we conceded too many soft tries and we threw the game away, in my view. We had it in our grasp."

==Kyodo