Brumbies stay unbeaten in Super Rugby

ACT Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham hailed his side’s “mental resolve” after scoring two late tries in a thrilling 30-27 win against the Blues.

The rousing victory in Canberra on Saturday kept the Brumbies’ flawless start to the Super Rugby Pacific season intact, leaving them top of the table after three rounds.

“It was intense,” Larkham said. “We haven’t had a big challenge where we’ve been behind on the scoreboard.

“So that was a really good test of our mental resolve. Lots of mistakes, lots of turnovers, some really hard passages, both in attack and defence.

“And I think when you come out of a game like that, you can build a lot of belief from the fact that we just go back to what we know we do well and that can put us in a position to win the game.”

The Blues were in the box seat with 10 minutes left, leading by nine points after a brace from All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke and a try apiece to AJ Lam and captain Dalton Papali’i in his 100th game.

But the hosts never gave up.

A yellow card for the Blues’ Stephen Perofeta turned the tide, with Brumbies flanker Luke Reimer crossing before Charlie Cale worked his way over after more than 20 phases in the 82nd minute to seal the win.

Elsewhere, the Crusaders recorded their first win of the season after sweeping aside the Chiefs.

The try-laden 43-33 victory in Hamilton was the first meeting of the two powerful New Zealand sides since the Crusaders won last year’s final 16-12.

Rob Penney’s side had opened their campaign with losses to the Highlanders and Brumbies and he admitted his players did not savour the prospect of a third defeat.

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“It was always going to be a bit of a turning point for us, we had to front,” Penney told reporters.

All Blacks loose forward Christian Lio-Willie crossed for three of the Crusaders’ six tries as they overcame an early 14-0 deficit, producing some scintillating attacking play to score 36 unanswered points through the middle stages.