Brumbies 22
A last-minute try to Sitaleki Timani earned the NSW Waratahs a desperately-needed 29-22 victory over the Brumbies in Saturday night's Super Rugby derby in Canberra.
The replacement backrower crashed his way through a wall of defenders to break a 22-all deadlock with only seconds left on the clock.
Kurtley Beale added the conversion to finish the match with an 19-point haul just a few minutes after the Wallabies fullback looked to have handed the Brumbies a share of the points.
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With the Waratahs clinging to a seven-point lead with four minutes remaining, Beale had an attempted clearing kick charged down to allow Brumbies prop Ben Alexander to score, with Matt Giteau's conversion seemingly forcing a draw.
But in a dramatic conclusion to an otherwise uninspiring encounter, the video referee denied NSW replacement winger Atieli Pakalani what would have been the match-winning try with two-and-a-half minutes remaining before Timani pulled the game out of the fire for the Waratahs.
NSW's victory came after back-to-back defeats at the hands of the Crusaders and lowly Cheetahs and sent the Brumbies spiralling deeper into crisis.
Already in the midst of their worst-ever start to a Super Rugby campaign, the Brumbies have now lost four straight matches and face the prospect of losing star back Adam Ashley-Cooper to the Waratahs this week.
And all this after the two-time Super champions sacked coach Andy Friend two rounds into the competition, having started the season without injured Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom.
The lack of leadership was evident when the home side twice spurned the chance to take penalty-goal attempts from easy positions just after the break with the score tied up at 12-all.
Stand-in skipper Giteau eventually nudged the Brumbies ahead 15-12 when he slotted a 47th-minute penalty after Waratahs centre Tom Carter was sin-binned following a spat with Josh Valentine.
A 60th-minute try on his NSW starting debut to centre Ryan Cross, created and converted by Beale, put the Waratahs ahead 19-15.
Beale added his fifth penalty of the night to make it 22-15 before Alexander's try looked to have earned the Brumbies a share of the four points.
While there was no earth hour at Canberra Stadium, it was lights out for the Brumbies when Timani broke home fans' hearts seconds from fulltime.
But if Wallabies coach Robbie Deans was watching the game, he wouldn't have been too happy with the glaring lack of basic skills shown.
Beale twice kicked the ball dead and halfback Luke Burgess once put it out on the full to place the Waratahs under unnecessary pressure, while Valentine was pulled back for not releasing the ball while trying to take a tap.
It was pretty sloppy stuff, with both sides clearly desperate to jag a win after a forgettable few weeks.
NSW Waratahs 29 (Ryan Cross, Sitaleki Timani tries Kurtley Beale 2 cons 5 pens) bt Brumbies 22 (Ben Alexander try Matt Giteau con 5 pens) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Marius Jonker. Crowd: 18,011.
- AAP
