Brumbies fight back to upset Blues at Eden Park
MATCH REPORT: The Brumbies have buried their Eden Park demons with a hoodoo-busting 21-20 Super Rugby Pacific victory over the defending champion Blues.
A 79th-minute penalty goal from scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan earned the Brumbies the lead for the first time on Friday after the Blues had earlier threatened to run away with the match.
Despite winning 23 of their past 24 games against Australian opposition, the Blues couldn’t deny the Brumbies a spirited comeback triumph on this occasion.
The hosts led 20-10 at the break after two runaway tries in the space of two minutes just before half-time to prop Angus Ta’avo and superstar centre Rieko Ioane.
Their lead would have been far larger had Beauden Barrett not sprayed two conversion attempts and a routine shot at a penalty goal.
But the Brumbies fought back doggedly in the second half, with a penalty goal from Declan Meredith reducing the deficit to seven points before the scrumhalf crossed out wide for his side’s second try of the match.
Meredith missed the conversion attempt to leave the Brumbies trailing by two.
After dominating the scrum, line-out and breakdown, the Brumbies secured a decisive penalty with less than two minutes left, allowing Lonergan to boot the Canberrans to a famous victory.
The match had been all locked up at 10-all through 35 minutes, after Brumbies captain Allan Alalatoa’s pick-and-drive effort cancelled out Barrett’s early strike for the Blues.
But Ioane’s first try since May 2023, and his milestone 50th in Super Rugby, looked to have given the Blues all the momentum entering the second half.
The Brumbies, though, had other ideas as they scored 11 unanswered points in the second half.
The scorers:
For Blues:
Tries: Barrett, Ta’avao, Ioane
Con: Barrett
Pen: Barrett
For Brumbies:
Tries: Alaalatoa, Meredith
Con: Maredith
Pens: Meredith 2, Lonergan
Teams:
Blues: 15 Cole Forbes, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 AJ Lam, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Finlay Christie, 8 Cameron Suafoa, 7 Anton Segner, 6 Cam Christie, 5 Josh Beehre, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (captain), 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Joshua Fusitu’a.
Replacements: 16 Nathaniel Pole, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Tristyn Cook, 20 Che Clark, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 Corey Evans.
Brumbies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andy Muirhead, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 David Feluai, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Declan Meredith, 9 Harrison Goddard, 8 Charlie Cale, 7 Rory Scott, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Lachlan Shaw, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Lachlan Lonergan, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Feao Fotuaika, 19 Cadeyrn Neville, 20 Luke Reimer, 21 Ryan Lonergan, 22 Jack Debreczeni, 23 Hudson Creighton.
Referee: James Doleman
Assistant referees: Fraser Hannon, Warwick Lahmert
TMO: Richard Kelly
