Chiefs down Brumbies in 12-try duel, Blues secure first win, Reds stun Force

SATURDAY WRAP: The Brumbies have fallen painfully short once again in another high-scoring Super Rugby Pacific thriller in Hamilton.

Despite running in six tries, the Brumbies walked away from the Waikato Stadium with nothing tangible to show for their enterprise and endeavour after suffering a 34-49 loss to the table-topping Chiefs on Saturday.

The heartbreaker follows a 45-42 defeat to the Western Force in another 12-try extravaganza last Saturday night in Canberra.

The sapping loss also somewhat soured celebrations for veteran hooker James Slipper, who joined Aaron Smith as Super Rugby’s most-capped player with his 185th appearance.

But there were wide smiles everywhere in the Chiefs camp, none bigger than Gideon Wrampling’s after he grabbed a telling second-half try-scoring double with his first two touches of the ball.

The Brumbies deserved the halftime lead after outscoring the Chiefs three tries to two in the opening section.

All of the Brumbies’ tries, to lock Nick Frost, flyhalf Declan Meredith and speedster winger Corey O’Toole, came out wide after the forwards methodically drew in the Chiefs defence to create opportunities on the edges.

But two conversions and a penalty goal from Damian McKenzie to go with quickfire tries in the space of three minutes to flyhalf Josh Jacomb and centre Anton Lienert-Brown kept the Chiefs in the game.

The Chiefs blew the game open with two more quick tries early in the second half, splitting the Brumbies defence right up the middle on both occasions.

First livewire centre Quinn Tupaea reeled in his own chip kick, then Wrampling cashed in on a beautifully worked set play from a lineout to cross seconds after joining the fray.

Suddenly trailing 29-15, the Brumbies needed a spark.

Instead they went back to their bread and butter to score from a rolling maul through Lachlan Lonergan.

When Andy Muirhead touched down shortly after, following the Brumbies’ own lineout on halfway, the scores were all tied up again at 29-all.

But the deadlock lasted only a matter of seconds after skipper Tupou Vaa’i regained possession from the kick-off and sent Wrampling scampering down the left touchline for his second strike.

Another Chiefs penalty stretched the home side’s lead to beyond a converted try with 10 minutes remaining.

Muirhead’s second try gave the Brumbies a glimmer of hope, but the Chiefs were not to be denied, remaining unbeaten after Lienert-Brown added the cherry on top with the 12th try of the match on fulltime.

*The Blues have dug deep for a 33-28 win over the Hurricanes for their first victory of the season.

The visitors had to defy a late Hoskins Sotutu red card to secure the win, with Mark Tele’a scoring a spectacular try to win the game.

Desperate for victory, the Blues started strong with a penalty try from a dominant scrum, leading to the Hurricanes going down to 13 as a result of early discipline issues.

The Hurricanes got back in the game thanks to the efforts of flyhalf Harry Godfrey.

Godfrey had 23 points for the night, including the Hurricanes’ first 19 points of the game.

The flyhalf sliced through the defence for a great solo try to keep the Hurricanes in the game at the break amid the yellow card setbacks.

Kini Naholo nearly gave them the lead to start the second half before referee Angus Gardner denied the try.

He wouldn’t be denied minutes later as the wing dived over, with Godfrey’s conversion giving them the lead.

The flyhalf extended the lead with another penalty before Sotutu charged over the line to spark the Blues.

The Blues’ All Blacks contingency got them back in front when Beauden Barrett linked up with Caleb Clarke, finding Tele’a who scored with nine minutes to go to re-take the lead.

There was one last twist in the game when Sotutu hit Peter Lakai in the head with his shoulder.

The play was upgraded to a red as the Hurricanes pushed for a winner.

However, a late knock-on allowed the Blues to survive, on top of a late penalty following a last minute scrum.

Elsewhere an 80th minute matchwinner from Filipo Daugunu has left Western Force fans heartbroken with Queensland Reds emerging 28-24 victors from another drama-filled thriller.

Saturday’s scores and scorers:

Chiefs 49-34 Brumbies

The scorers:

For Chiefs:
Tries: Lienert-Brown 2, Jacomb, Tupaea, Wrampling 2
Cons: McKenzie 4, Jacomb
Pens: McKenzie 2, Jacomb

For Brumbies:
Tries: Frost, Meredith, Toole, Lonergan, Muirhead 2
Cons: Debreczeni 2

Teams:

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Josh Jacomb, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Simon Parker, 7 Jahrome Brown, 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Tupou Vaa’i (captain), 4 Josh Lord, 3 George Dyer, 2 Brodie McAllister, 1 Aidan Ross.
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Sione Ahio, 19 Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20 Kaylum Boshier, 21 Xavier Roe, 22 Daniel Rona, 23 Gideon Wrampling

Brumbies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andy Muirhead, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Ollie Sapsford, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Declan Meredith, 9 Ryan Lonergan (captain), 8 Charlie Cale, 7 Luke Reimer, 6 Rory Scott, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Lachlan Lonergan, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Rhys van Nek, 19 Lachlan Shaw, 20 Judah Saumaisue, 21 Harrison Goddard, 22 Jack Debreczeni, 23 Hudson Creighton

Referee: James Doleman
Assistant Referees: Marcus Playle, Fraser Hannon
TMO: Richard Kelly

Hurricanes 29-33 Blues

The scorers:

For Hurricanes:
Tries: Godfrey, Naholo
Cons: Godfrey 2
Pens: Godfrey 5

For Blues:
Tries: Riccitelli, Suafoa, Sotutu, Telea, Penalty
Cons: B Barrett 3

Teams:

Hurricanes: 15 Kade Banks, 14 Fehi Fineanganofo, 13 Bailyn Sullivan, 12 Peter Umaga-Jensen, 11 Kini Naholo, 10 Harry Godfrey, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 DuPlessis Kirifi (co-captain), 6 Brad Shields (co-captain), 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 Caleb Delany, 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Raymond Tuputupu, 1 Xavier Numia.
Replacements: 16 Jacob Devery, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Tevita Mafileo, 19 Hugo Plummer, 20 Brayden Iose, 21 Ereatara Enari, 22 Riley Hohepa, 23 Ngatungane Punivai.

Blues: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 AJ Lam, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Harry Plummer, 9 Finlay Christie, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Cameron Suafoa, 5 Josh Beehre, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (captain), 3 Marcel Renata, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi.
Replacements: 16 James Mullan, 17 Joshua Fusitu’a, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Cam Christie, 20 Anton Segner, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Corey Evans, 23 Cole Forbes.

Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistant Referees: Matt Kellahan, Jeremy Markey
TMO: Brett Cronan

Western Force 24-28 Reds

The scorers:

For Force:
Tries: Tizzano 2, Swain
Cons: Donaldson 3
Pen: Donaldson

For Reds:
Tries: Daugunu, Flook 2, Lynach
Cons: Thomas, McLaughlin-Phillips, Lynagh 2