CANBERRA – The Brumbies upset the Hurricanes 24-12 to keep alive their Super Rugby finals hopes. The Australian side ended a 13-match losing run against New Zealand sides and won their third straight game to fight back from 12-5 down at half-time to claim victory.
Their first win against a New Zealand team since 2016 took the Brumbies to within six points of the second-placed Melbourne Rebels in the Australian conference with two games left to the finals.
The loss was the Hurricanes' third straight and left the Crusaders nine points clear at the top of the New Zealand conference.
"Really pleased with the effort of the team, a quality opposition that tested us all the way," Brumbies skipper Christian Lealiifano said.
"We were probably guilty of kicking the ball away too much in the first half and when we held the ball we made some good metres."
The Brumbies dominated the second half, keeping the ball in hand, and scored tries through Fola Fainga'a, Rory Arnold and Andy Muirhead.
The Hurricanes, who were without Beauden Barrett, Brad Shields, Vaea Fifita and Ardie Savea, now have their remaining games against the Auckland Blues and away to the Chiefs to keep second spot in the Kiwi conference.
"It was frustrating not to score in the second half and at the back end of the halves we need to play better footy. Leading 12-5 at half-time we normally win those games," skipper TJ Perenara said.