Rugby: Intercept try sinks Blues

Lachie Turner of the Waratahs scoots away to score the match winning try against the Blues. Photo / Getty Images

The Blues joined the list of New Zealand rugby's Super 14 nearly men after a stirring fight back against the Waratahs was thwarted by an intercept try in the dying minutes at the Sydney Football Stadium tonight.

Wallabies winger Lachiue Turner raced 95-metres after snatching a Taniela Moa pass for a try-bound Rene Ranger -- his intervention the decisive moment of the Waratahs 39-32 victory.

The Blues had regrouped from a 14-point deficit inside the opening quarter and seemed to have the seventh round match in control until they were caught napping at a close range lineout -- and then Turner's gamble when Ranger was on the brink of completing a match-winning treble in the 75th minute.

A Daniel Halangahu penalty gave the home side more breathing space before the defence held in a final frantic few minutes -- to limit the Blues to two bonus points for scoring four tries and losing by seven.

Turner's killer blow followed Matt Toomua's late try for the Brumbies against the Chiefs in Canberra last night and Ruuan Pienaar's long range penalty for the Sharks after the hooter against the Hurricanes earlier today.

Still winless in Sydney since 2003, the match started ominously for the Blues as the Waratahs ran in three clinical tries inside 18 minutes.

Dean Mumm opened the scoring in the fifth minute by batting aside Serge Lilo with ease from close range though the lock owed his second try of the season to excellent lead up play despite front rowers clogging the backline.

Interplay between hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, prop Benn Robinson and wing Drew Mitchell advanced the Waratahs from halfway to the chalk before Mumm, one off the ruck, took a pass from Luke Burgess to cross handy to the posts.

Mumm was denied a second in the right hand corner after another impressive Waratahs thrust, though the relief was short lived for the Blues who were powerless to stop pivot Halangahu crashing over by the posts from a close range tap penalty in the eighth minute.

Halangahu brushed past Blues defensive rock Jerome Kaino and lock Kurtis Haiu to gift himself another handy conversion.

Starved of quality possession and territory the Blues waited 14 minutes before venturing past the Waratahs 22-metre line and made the most of the opportunity when Rudi Wulf bumped off Mitchell before crashing through the attempts of Al Baxter and Kurtley Beale.

Undeterred by the setback, the Waratahs efficiently restored their 14-point buffer when turning down a kickable penalty in favour of an attacking lineout.

Their positivity was rewarded when Halangahu made a beeline for the posts again after a sequence of forward surges stretched the Blues defensive structure.

Trailing 7-21, the Blues then recovered impressively and ruled the remainder of the first spell as Toeava touched down in the corner via an angled run by fellow wing Joe Rokocoko. Rene Ranger, who had been quiet throughout the half, then continued the salvage job when he picked the ball from the base of a ruck to dive over by the uprights to give Stephen Brett an easy conversion.

The momentum swing continued after the resumption when Ranger's double gave the Blues the lead for the first time at 24-21 with 30 minutes to play.

A Brett penalty extended the advantage to five but that lead was erased when a slick lineout move enabled Polota-Nau to crash over in the corner after he took a clever deflection from Ben Mowlem -- the signal for the Waratahs own resurgence entering the final quarter.

The Blues, languishing in ninth, host the table-topping Bulls in Auckland next week while the Waratahs -- who return to fourth -- host the Cheetahs.

- NZPA