Auckland - It took a wet day in Auckland to snap a seven-game drought for the Blues when a late penalty by Ihaia West secured a 16-14 win over the ACT Brumbies in their Super 15 clash on Friday.
The Brumbies had a chance to regain the lead on the stroke of full-time only for Nic White's long-range penalty to fall short.
Although the heavy rain that lashed Auckland through the day had cleared by kick-off, the ground was slippery and the bottom-placed New Zealand team fared much better in the greasy conditions than the leading Australian side.
They led 13-0 at half-time, with Daniel Bowden scoring all the points in the first 40 minutes from a converted try and two penalties.
The Blues then survived a sustained comeback by the Brumbies who hit the lead 14-13 with six minutes remaining before replacement fly-half West coolly regained the lead for the Blues with his sideline penalty.
"It's great," said a jubilant Blues captain Jerome Kaino as they celebrated their first victory of the year.
"It's been frustrating for the last seven weeks not being able to get the win."
But Kaino acknowledged that after the flying start, the Blues were lucky to come back at the end.
"We got off to a great start and played well in the first 40. In the second half we got a bit defensive and unforced errors got them in the game.
"When they built phases they got a bit dangerous... and we just weren't able to counter in the close quarters. But we'll take the win."
As Bowden piled on the points in the first half, handling errors proved costly for the Brumbies with repeated turnovers as they failed to control the wet ball.
With their one early scoring chance, Christian Lealiifano missed a penalty attempt from point blank range in the first half, but made no mistake with a similar opportunity at the start of the second spell.
After a patient build-up lasting 25 phases the Brumbies scored their sole try of the game with replacement wing Lausii Taliauli and a further Lealiifano penalty cut the Blues' lead to 13-11 with 14 minutes remaining.
The Brumbies hit the front for the first time in the 74th minute from a third Lealiifano penalty after they had muscled their way 25 metres up to the Blues line with an all-in line-out drive involving backs and forwards.
It sparked a frantic end to the game with West regaining the lead for the Blues before White came up short with the final play of the game.
AFP
