The New South Wales Waratahs thanked their forwards for a dominant first half but needed a late penalty goal to kill off a desperate comeback bid by the Waikato Chiefs yesterday to earn a 23-16 win.
The Waratahs charged out of the blocks with a try in the first four minutes on the way to a 20-6 halftime lead, but barely got their hands on the ball after the break as the Chiefs came within a try of victory at Sydney Football Stadium.
Fullback Tim Nanai-Williams scored a try and booted a penalty goal to reduce the Chiefs’ deficit to four points with six minutes remaining but Kurtley Beale took all of his allotted time to slot a penalty goal in the last minute to seal the win.
Photo: Reuters
“It was pretty disappointing for us,” Waratahs winger Drew Mitchell said. “In the second half we were probably pushing things to much ... it was disappointing that we let them in end like we did.”
The Waratahs improved to 4-2 in the competition to cement their second place in the Australian conference but the Chiefs (2-5) face a battle to qualify for the postseason.
The Waratahs’ pack set the tone early, forcing a scrum turnover to push the ball forward and allow Atieli Pakalani to cross for their first try after an eight-phase drive.
The Chiefs’ scrum was then completely unravelled. Waratahs captain Phil Waugh took a string of penalty scrums just shy of the try-line and was rewarded when the referee sin-binned Chiefs prop Nathan White after losing patience with another collapsed scrum.
Waugh called for another scrum and the Waratahs were handed a penalty try after wheeling the Chiefs forwards around.
The effective, if unedifying play, proved decisive and the Waratahs appeared set to romp home after Beale converted and kicked a penalty on the stroke of halftime.
Nanai-Williams hit back for the Chiefs in the 58th minute, poaching the ball from a ruck and leaping over a pile of the bodies after a frantic 13-phase assault that spanned the try-line.
Flyhalf Mike Delany’s conversion brought the Chiefs within seven points while Nanai-Williams’s penalty goal made it 20-16 as the Waratahs coughed up possession with handling errors and panicky kicks out of defense.
The Chiefs’ desperate search for a winner came up short, however, while Beale’s sealer gave him a perfect night in front of the posts.
HIGHLANDERS 26, BRUMBIES 20
AFP, INVERCARGILL, NEW ZEALAND
Forward Jason Rutledge was the unlikely hero as the Otago Highlanders extended the ACT Brumbies’ losing streak to five straight games in Invercargill yesterday.
Two first-half tries in two minutes from the hooker proved the difference as the Highlanders held on to win 26-20.
The result gave the Highlanders four wins from six games and consigned two-time champions the Brumbies to the bottom of the competition’s Australian conference.
The Canberra-based team dominated possession, but fell short against a Highlanders team lacking fluency but dogged in defense.
Brumbies skipper Matt Giteau, who missed three penalties and two conversions, said his wayward boot was a factor in the defeat, but said his team also gave away too many penalties.
With the Brumbies enduring their worst ever start to a Super rugby season, Giteau said the team was struggling for momentum.
“The only way is forward, we’ve got to stay tight, another game next week,” he said.
His buoyant Highlanders’ counterpart Jamie Macintosh was looking to continue to defy the critics.
“Not many people gave us a chance, we’re just going to rip into it and have some fun,” he said.
The Brumbies were on the back foot after Kade Poki burst through on the wing in the 15th minute, passing to Jimmy Cowan, whose cross-field bomb found Rutledge for the first try of the game.
The home team missed the conversion, but won the ball back at the restart, with Rutledge again finding himself in the right place at the right time as Ben Smith offloaded just short of the tryline.
Slade converted to put the Highlanders 12-0 up.
He extended the lead to 15-0 after 24 minutes, slotting home a penalty awarded for a Brumbies’ ruck infringement.
Consistent pressure from the Brumbies was rewarded when Giteau found a gap in the Highlanders’ defense to cross the tryline nine minutes from the break, converting to make it 15-7.
The Australians narrowed the gap in the second half when Highlanders pivot Tony Brown received a yellow card for repeated infringements, with Brumbies center Andrew Smith taking advantage of superior numbers to cross for a try.
However, the Highlanders lifted their intensity late in the game and Macintosh forced his way over the tryline five minutes from time to establish a decisive 26-15 lead.
The Brumbies scored a third try through Patrick Phibbs, but the Highlanders managed to hold on for the win.
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