The ACT Brumbies yesterday turned in an improved second-half performance to beat the Otago Highlanders 27-21 in Super Rugby Pacific for the third win of the season by an Australian team over New Zealand opponents.
The Brumbies trailed 11-7 after a frenetic first half, but took the lead for the first time in the 42nd minute with a try to winger Corey Toole, his fifth of the season.
The Highlanders regained the lead in the 58th minute with a try to Billy Harmon, but the Brumbies rallied to retake the lead with a penalty to Noah Lolesio then a match-winning try to replacement Lachlan Lonergan.
Photo: AFP
Lolesio kicked five goals from five attempts for 12 points as the Brumbies posted their first win in Dunedin in 13 years.
Sam Gilbert kicked an injury-time penalty to give the Highlanders a bonus point.
The Brumbies lost 46-12 to the Waikato Chiefs in Round 2 in the only previous match against a New Zealand team this season. They got their season back on track with a 22-19 win over the Western Force last weekend and reproduced the best aspects of the match in the second half yesterday.
Photo: AP
“We had a good look at ourselves after the Force game,” Brumbies captain Ryan Lonergan said. “We got a win last week, but we still weren’t happy with the physicality in our breakdown.”
“I think in the first 20 minutes here we were still a bit lazy in that area,” he said. “Then we started to muscle up and we started to play a bit of good footy.”
In other games yesterday, the Chiefs beat the Fijian Drua 46-29 and the Auckland Blues downed the NSW Waratahs 12-10.
Photo: AFP
On Friday, the Canterbury Crusaders’ start to the season went from poor to unprecedentedly bad with their fourth straight loss, a 14-10 home defeat by the Wellington Hurricanes.
The 11-time champions had not lost three matches in a row at the start of season since 1996 before they lost to the Fijian Drua last weekend.
They had never previously lost four matches in succession.
“We’re trying really hard but it’s just not sticking,” Crusaders captain David Havili said. “We gave ourselves a chance in the contest tonight, but we couldn’t quite finish it off.”
The Queensland Reds thumped the Melbourne Rebels 53-26 and Moana Pasifika downed the Force 22-14.
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