/ 26 March 2011

Long arm of Timani gives NSW win over Brumbies

Replacement lock Sitaleki Timani scored a last-gasp try to give the New South Wales Waratahs a 29-22 victory over the ACT Brumbies in a tough defence-oriented tussle in their Super rugby match on Saturday.

The two-metre tall Timani stretched out one of his long arms and planted the ball in the final minute following a succession of close attacks after Brumbies prop Ben Alexander had scored his side’s only try, which was converted by Matt Giteau, to level the game at 22-22 with less than five minutes remaining.

Fullback Kurtley Beale added five penalties and converted Timani and Ryan Cross’s tries to give him a personal tally of 19 points and helped the Waratahs erase the disappointment of their 23-3 loss to the lowly Cheetahs last week in Sydney.

Giteau, who had charged down Beale’s clearing kick that led to Alexander’s try, scored five penalties but the Brumbies still slumped to their fourth successive loss — three of which have come since coach Andy Friend was sacked.

“It was a pretty tough week after last week’s performance and to put ourselves into a position to win that game and come back right at the death was a big effort from the guys,” Waratahs’ captain Phil Waugh said.

Neither side was able to stamp any real authority on the match, with much of it played between the 22m areas as both teams’ attempts to build pressure were snuffed out by well-drilled defences.

The first-half scoring action was restricted to four penalty goals each to Beale and Giteau, whose late penalty on the half-time hooter levelled the score at 12-12.

Giteau added his fifth penalty in the 48th minute, which had been awarded for an infringement at the breakdown but also followed Waratahs’ inside centre Tom Carter being sinbinned for kicking the ball away to prevent a quick penalty being taken.

Cross then scored his try, after a strange kick from Beale somehow found its way into space close to the line.

Beale converted from wide out then added a penalty to give the Waratahs a 22-15 lead before Giteau’s charge down gave the final five minutes some real excitement, which had been mostly lacking throughout the earlier 75 minutes.

“We didn’t really get a lot of possession in the second half and when we did we left a few [scoring opportunites] out there and they were good enough at the end,” Giteau said.

“The Tahs tend to get their points by building leads early on so we thought if we could get into an arm wrestle with them we fancied our chances but unluckily we didn’t get it.” – Reuters