DAVID SHAPSHAK, Witbank | Saturday 5.15pm.
TONY Brown kicked an injury time penalty to secure the Highlanders a 42-40 Super 12 win over the Northern Bulls at the Johan van Riebeck Stadium in Witbank on Saturday.
The flyhalf, who contributed 17 points through four conversions and three penalties, consigned the bottom-of-the-table Bulls to their tenth loss when it seemed they had the game in the bag, after leading 20-13 at the break.
The drama-filled second half ran to 53 minutes when the Bulls had engineered a remarkable fight back to lead by one point, with flyhalf Jannie de Beer kicking 25 points.
The second half resurgence was led by Springbok captain Joost van der Westhuizen coming on for his first Super 12 appearance, after a long injury layoff.
The home side dominated the first half, when scrumhalf Deon de Kock scored a marvelous interception try against the run of play.
Tony Brown kicked a penalty on either side of the try, after which his scrumhalf Byron Kelleher burst over from a five metre scrum.
The rest of the half belonged to Jannie de Beer, who kicked four penalties to give the Bulls a seven point lead.
The Highlanders came out firing after the restart, scoring four more tries from superb backline runs.
Rua Tipoki rounded off the first and 20 minutes later Jeff Wilson ran 50 metres, beating his opposite number, to score in the corner.
All Blacks flanker Josh Kronfeld was on Pita Alatini’s shoulder when the centre broke through, for the fourth try and vital bonus point. Brown converted all three.
Minutes after Van der Westhuizen took the field, Bulls wing Frikkie Welsh scored in the corner from multi-phased play.
And, they didn’t lose their momentum when Wilson stepped out of tackle on the line to score his second.
However, the Bulls, which had not lost at this stadium in three pervious Super 12 outings, refused to lie down and De Beer slotted another penalty to draw the lead back to six points.
And, when Highlanders replacement Paul Miller for yellow carded for racking, home captain Ruben Kruger forced his way over for a try on the line from the resulting lineout.
De Beer’s kick took it to 40-39, and a missed penalty might have sealed it – before Brown’s late kick broke the Bull’s hearts.