Lote Tuqiri and Dean Mumm scored tries against the run of play to guide the New South Wales Waratahs to a 24-17 win over the ACT Brumbies in an all-Australian Super 14 match on Friday.
Wallaby wing Tuqiri intercepted a loose pass from Adam Wallace-Harrison to level the score, and then replacement lock Mumm charged down an attempted clearance from Christian Fainifo to score the match winner.
The Brumbies led 17-10 at half-time when winger Peter Playford scored after the siren, but they failed to score again in the second half as storms gathered and heavy rain began falling.
”The conditions were a factor but we didn’t control the ball the way we wanted to,” ACT Brumbies captain George Smith said in a televised interview.
”We’re going to have to rebuild from this. It was a tough loss because we came here with high expectations.”
The Waratahs made a good start when flyhalf Kurtley Beale sliced his way through the defence to set up a try for centre Tom Carter.
Beale added the conversion then a penalty to give his side a 10-0 lead but the Brumbies drew level when replacement flanker Julian Salvi barged over and Mark Gerrard converted then slotted over a penalty.
The Brumbies, missing several of their senior players, took the lead when Playford wriggled his way over in the corner at half-time, but lost their way in the second half as the Waratahs began piling on the pressure in the muddy conditions.
”It was a good, gutsy win in the end,” Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh said.
”It was about hitting the corners and getting as much field position as possible.
”I thought we did that okay but there’s still plenty to work on.”
The Brumbies return home to Canberra next week to host New Zealand’s Wellington Hurricanes while the Waratahs have a bye. — Reuters