Waratahs stay top in Australian division after win over Waikato Chiefs
New South Wales take control as Brumbies, Auckland battle to keep their hopes alive
A late surge by the NSW Waratahs, sparked by a captain's try from Dave Dennis, carried them to a 33-17 victory over the defending champions Waikato Chiefs in their Super Rugby clash on Saturday.
The result kept the Waratahs at the top of the Australian conference, while the Chiefs' hopes of defending their crown a third time were in tatters as they suffered their fifth loss and slipped well outside the crucial top six.
After trailing for much of the game, the Chiefs seized a 17-16 lead with two snappy tries midway through the second half before the Waratahs re-asserted control to record their first win in New Zealand for four years.
They’re a consistent team, we knew they’d keep fighting for the full 80 minutes and I thought we stuck to our game well
"It's been a couple of years since we had a win over here but we were really keen to put in a strong performance," Waratahs captain Dave Dennis said.
"They're a consistent team, we knew they'd keep fighting for the full 80 minutes and I thought we just stuck to our game well. Our discipline was probably a bit off there but we kept playing, attacking with ball in hand and we got some good tries."
After their hiding at the hands of the Wellington Hurricanes a week ago, the Chiefs rejigged their backline with the return of Aaron Cruden in the driving seat and Andrew Horrell and Tim Nanai-Williams stationed outside.
But the defensive lapses from last week remained as Adam Ashley-Cooper ripped apart the midfield. A rueful Chiefs coach Dave Rennie admitted at half-time that his side were "lucky" to trail by only 10 points.
In Canberra, the ACT Brumbies put their campaign back on track after a comprehensive 37-10 bonus-point victory over the Melbourne Rebels. The win means they move back into top six play-off territory.
Solid in defence, the Brumbies got on the board after three minutes and booked a four-try bonus point by the 30th minute, never relaxing their grip on the lop-sided contest.
In Auckland, the Blues kept their slim play-off hopes alive as they defended a proud home record to trounce the Hurricanes 37-24. It was a remarkable form reversal for the Hurricanes a week after they thrashed the Chiefs 45-8, as they tasted a similar hiding from the bottom-placed New Zealand side.
They still picked up a four-try bonus-point to remain in the top six, while the Blues, who remain unbeaten at home but are winless away this season, are in the bottom half of the table. The Blues are also within striking distance of the play-offs.
With the competition now shutting down for the June test window, rival captains Luke Braid and Conrad Smith cut contrasting figures as they contemplate what lies ahead when the remaining three rounds resume.
"I guess it was just sticking to a plan that we came up with during the week and the boys did it really well," Braid said.
"It was just an attitude thing. We were slow to the breakdown last week, so we were big on taking them on up front.
"We really needed the bonus-point win going into the June break. We'll come back in and go for it," said the Blues skipper, adding that their season was "definitely" alive, although two of their last three games are away.
"We blew it," said Hurricanes leader Smith, whose side have only two games and a non-point scoring bye left. "We should have won tonight and we didn't so it's going to be tough."
England coach Stuart Lancaster was an interested spectator at the match, a week out from the first of his team's three test matches against New Zealand at Eden Park.
