AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) The Auckland-based Blues hung on to beat the Melbourne Rebels 36-30, giving victory to the last-place team in Super Rugby's New Zealand conference against the top team in the Australian frame on Saturday.
But the Blues were hard-pressed to achieve the six-tries-to-four win. They led 36-18 after 52 minutes, then conceded two late tries.
A penalty awarded against the Rebels as they attacked with two minutes remaining finally clinched the match for the Blues.
The gap between New Zealand and Australia was further emphasized when the Highlanders, placed fourth in New Zealand, beat ACT 23-10 to keep the Brumbies second behind the Rebels in Australia.
The Rebels set the early pace in Auckland to lead 8-0. The Blues took advantage of missed tackles to respond with tries through Jerome Kaino, Charlie Faumuina, and flyhalf Ihaia West to be 24-18 up into halftime. Melbourne missed amost 30 tackles in total and the Blues were able to develop their attacking game, scoring further tries through Tevita Li and Lolagi Visinia.
But the Blues then lapsed into characteristic mistakes, giving up soft possessions and conceding tries to Colby Fainga'a and Sefa Naivalu, which brought their lead back to 36-30 with 13 minutes to play.
Their control frayed in the late stages of the match until the referee blew a vital penalty in their favor with time running out.
''My heart's still racing as we speak,'' Blues captain James Parsons said. ''We didn't close it out as we would have liked but after not starting well we got ourselves into a good position. We're just looking for that 80-minute performance.''
The Rebels were disappointed.
''The missed tackles and the Blues' ability to offload really hurt us,'' captain Nic Stirzaker said.
In Invercargill, flyhalf Lima Sopoaga scored a try among 18 points for the Highlanders, who overcame an acute shortage of possession to outscore the Brumbies by two tries to one.
The Brumbies had 80 percent of possession in the first quarter and 68 percent in the first half but their only points from that supremacy came from a penalty. Sopoaga scored his try a minute before halftime to make it 7-3, and fullback Ben Smith scored immediately after halftime to punish the Brumbies for handling and defensive errors.
The Brumbies had no apparent attacking plan but managed a try to hooker Josh Mann-Rea before Sopoaga kicked the Highlanders ahead with three second-half penalties.
On a day when little went right, the Brumbies' bus broke down and they had to taxi to the ground. Their insipid performance allowed the Highlanders to end a two-match losing streak and shore up their title defense.
''It didn't always go the way we would have wanted but I'm proud the boys just stuck in there and got the job done,'' Smith said.
