The ACT Brumbies returned to the top of the Australian conference and dented the Northern Bulls play-off hopes with a 22-16 Super Rugby win in Canberra on Friday.
Winger Henry Speight scored two of the Brumbies’ three tries but the Bulls still had a winning chance in the final minutes only to take wrong attacking options.
The Brumbies leapfrogged the NSW Waratahs to the top of the Australian conference ahead of the defending champions’ match against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The loss left the Pretoria-based Bulls five points outside the Super Rugby play-off positions with just two games left and they are still without a win in Australasia for over three years.
The Brumbies, whose last loss at home to the Bulls was in 2007, led 22-9 after Speight’s second try in the 58th minute and they looked headed for a comfortable win.
But the Bulls fought back with a try to Pieter Labuschagne off the back of a rolling maul in the 67th minute to trail by six points.
The Brumbies were under pressure to hold on but the Bulls let themselves down by taking some poor attacking options in the final stages.
Replacement lock Jordan Smiler scored the Brumbies’ opening try in the 30th minute after a bad defensive read by Bulls centre Burger Odendaal for the Brumbies to lead 8-6 at half-time.
Speight beat off tackles by Handre Pollard and Odendaal to score his first try six minutes after the resumption and was over again after brushing off a weak effort from JJ Englebrecht close to the Bulls try-line.
Labuschagne kept the Bulls in it with his foraging try with Pollard finishing with three penalty goals and a conversion from five attempts.
“We got the job done, it was a bit close at the end, but we needed that win at this stage of the season and we did that,” Brumbies skipper Stephen Moore said.
“It was a very stop-start game and maybe we were a bit rusty after last week’s bye, so we need to do better next week against the Western Force in Perth.”
Bulls captain Pierre Spies said his side had made too many mistakes.
“It was a battle, you have to give credit to the Brumbies, but I think we made too many mistakes and we could have converted on those things,” Spies said.
“We will have to look at that for next week’s game against the Rebels in Melbourne.”