Blues break their duck
The Blues recorded their first win of the Super Rugby season, a dramatic late penalty by replacement Ihaia West giving them a 16-14 win over the Brumbies in Auckland on Friday.
The Blues scored the only first-half try as they dominated the opening 40 minutes, taking a 13-0 lead into the half-time break.
The Brumbies, who fumbled their way through the first half, found their rhythm to score a try and three Christian Lealiifano penalties to take the lead (14-13) with less than 10 minutes to go.
Then, with just over two minutes on the clock, West stepped up for a touchline penalty and nailed it to secure his team a morale-boosting win.
The win sees the Blues move off the bottom of the standings – above the Reds and Western Force – while the Brumbies remain in second place on the standings and top of the Australian conference, despite the loss.
It took a wet day in Auckland to snap a seven-game drought for the Blues.
The Brumbies had a chance to regain the lead on the stroke of full-time, only for Nic White's long-range penalty to fall short.
Although the heavy rain that lashed Auckland through the day had cleared by kick-off, the ground was slippery and the bottom-placed New Zealand team fared much better in the greasy conditions than the leading Australian side.
They led 13-0 at half-time, with Daniel Bowden scoring all the points in the first 40 minutes from a converted try and two penalties.
The Blues then survived a sustained comeback by the Brumbies who hit the lead 14-13 with six minutes remaining before replacement flyhalf West coolly regained the lead for the Blues with his sideline penalty.
As Bowden piled on the points in the first half, handling errors proved costly for the Brumbies with repeated turnovers as they failed to control the wet ball.
With their one early scoring chance, Christian Lealiifano missed a penalty attempt from point blank range in the first half, but made no mistake with a similar opportunity at the start of the second spell.
After a patient build-up lasting 25 phases the Brumbies scored their sole try of the game with replacement wing Lausii Taliauli and a further Lealiifano penalty cut the Blues' lead to 13-11 with 14 minutes remaining.
The Brumbies hit the front for the first time in the 74th minute from a third Lealiifano penalty after they had muscled their way 25 metres up to the Blues line with an all-in line-out drive involving backs and forwards.
It sparked a frantic end to the game with West regaining the lead for the Blues before White came up short with the final play of the game.
Man of the match: In a match of two halves Jerome Kaino and David Pocock went head-to-head in an intriguing display. While Pocock was the more impressive of the two as he helped the Brumbies get back in their game, Kaino's all-round game is what won him the award.
The scorers:
For the Blues:
Try: Bowden
Con: Bowden
Pens: Bowden 2, West
For the Brumbies:
Try: Taliauli
Pens: Lealiifano 3
Teams:
Blues: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Pita Ahki, 12 George Moala, 11 Melani Nanai, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jerome Kaino (captain), 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Luke Braid, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons, 1 Ofa Tu'ungafasi.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Angus Ta'avao, 19 Hayden Triggs, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Francis Saili.
Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Henry Speight, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Blake Enever, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Ita Vaea, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Lausii Taliauli, 23 Nigel Ah Wong.
Referee: Andrew Lees
Assistant referees: Nick Briant, Brendon Pickerill
TMO: Ben Skeen
