Highlanders title hopes stay alive after holding out Brumbies
The Highlanders hopes of going back-to-back in Super Rugby remain alive.
In a far from polished performance, the Highlanders did enough to topple top Australian team the Brumbies 15-9 in the quarterfinal game in Canberra.
It was a stop-start affair as the whistle and a wet and windy Canberra night subdued a Highlanders team who traditionally like to play the game in fast-forward.
The Super Rugby playoff format dealt the southern franchise a dud, given they racked up the second most competition points through round-robin play but still had to travel to play the Brumbies in Canberra who were seventh as far as competition points scored.
A showdown undercover in Dunedin would have played more into the Highlanders hands.
Despite this the Highlanders still outscored the Brumbies two tries to none and fended off a mammoth Brumbies onslaught in the dying stages to cling onto the sixpoint win.
The Highlanders started the game frantically. Both wingers, Waisake Naholo and Patrick Osborne, went close in their respective corners but came up short. The Highlanders were then awarded a handy penalty but livewire halfback Aaron Smith kept the high-tempo going and opted to take a quick tap as the visitors hammered away.
Soon after the Highlanders were awarded a second penalty and this time they opted for the points as first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga made it 3-0 inside the first five minutes.
Centre Matt Fades let the Brumbies into the game when he dropped the ball clean from the kick-off.
From the scrum the Brumbies were awarded a penalty when tight-head prop Josh Hohneck was deemed to have folded in under pressure.
Christian Lealiifano, however, was unable to convert in his first attempt of the night but got a second attempt minutes later. Again it was on the back of a Hohneck penalty at scrum time and after 10 minutes the scores were levelled up at 3-3.
The Brumbies set up a ruck where Highlanders lock Tom Franklin was deemed to be offside which allowed Lealiifano to step up and push the home team into the lead for the first time in the game with his second penalty.
Near halftime, in a double blow for the Brumbies, referee Angus Gardner was playing advantage for a series of penalties and after a try was scored by Waisake Naholo he showed second five-eighth Matt Toomua the yellow card. Sopoaga also landed the sideline conversion in difficult conditions and the Highlanders went into halftime with a 10-6 lead.
It took a Sopoaga intercept to finally break the game open after the changeover. He latched onto a pass from a Brumbies lineout move and quickly fed centre Matt Faddes who went close to scoring. The Highlanders recycled the ball quickly and it was No.8 Liam Squire who scored out wide to make it 15-9.
The last 10 minutes was all the Brumbies and they went close on several occasions but the visitors defence held.