The ACT Brumbies kept their season alive with a morale-boosting 16-11 win over the fading Auckland Blues in their Super 14 clash yesterday.
It was a remarkable turnaround for the Brumbies, who pulled off their fourth win in eight matches a week after being thrashed 28-42 by the Waikato Chiefs.
Although they remain mid-table, they moved up to five points off the Blues, who cling to third place midway through the ninth round, but who have a bye next week.
In a match that never achieved great heights, and was marred by a high error count, there was only one try apiece and the significant difference for the Brumbies was that they benefited from the Blues ill-discipline.
Nine of their points came from penalties, including one when Blues captain Troy Flavell threw a punch in front of referee Jonathan Kaplan, who responded by reversing a penalty that had already been awarded to the Blues.
Another three points came from backchat by Blues backrower Nick Williams which saw Kaplan upgrade a free kick to a penalty.
It was the second successive loss for the Blues and their fourth of the season as their attacks around the ruck were stifled by George Smith and their backs succumbed to a suffocating defense.
“[Kaplan] was a bit trigger happy and I suppose you’ve got to play to that and we didn’t do that,” Flavell said. “It just makes things a little harder for us. It doesn’t get any easier and the next three games are away from home.”
After the Brumbies weathered an opening Blues onslaught they bounced back with a penalty by Stirling Mortlock, who then converted a try by flyhalf Christian Lealiifano to grab a 10-0 lead.
Blues flyhalf Nick Evans responded with his first penalty to narrow the gap to 3-10 at halftime.
Evans and Mortlock traded penalties early in the second half and Mark Gerrard kicked another for the Brumbies following the Williams outburst to have the Brumbies ahead 16-6 seven minutes from time.
After trailing all through the game the Blues felt they had a chance of a late change of fortune when winger Rudi Wulf scored wide out with three minutes remaining to narrow the gap to six points.
But their hopes of a last-minute upset were dashed when further backchat saw them marched back by referee Kaplan, giving Gerrard a kickable penalty on the final whistle.
However, he missed, allowing the Blues to escape with a bonus point.
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