It's all over now. Thanks for joining us on a disappointing night for Bernie Larkham's boys. The Blues were sensational tonight and the Brumbies just couldn't get anything going. The Brumbies will now need to rely on the Waratahs losing at least one of their remaining games against the Hurricanes tomorrow night in Sydney, or the Blues next week at Eden Park, while also defeating the Force in the final round themselves at Canberra Stadium if they want to qualify for the Super Rugby finals as Australia's automatic entry.
FULL-TIME: Auckland Blues 40 bt ACT Brumbies 15.
Duffman scores! Ohhhhh noooooo!!!! It's getting even more embarrassing here for the Brumbies. Matt Duffie cruises over for an easy try in the right corner. Ihaia West misses the conversion and it's Blues 40 Brumbies 15. There's five minutes left but the end can't come quickly enough for the ACT now.
We've been having some technical problems here - but not as many as the Brumbies. Scott Fardy has gone off with what looked to be concussion after an accidental head clash with a teammate. The Blues looked to have extended their lead a few moments ago before the TMO overturned the try decision after spotting a foot on the sideline in the build-up. It's Blues 35 Brumbies 15 with 11 minutes left.
52: Try-saving tackle from Tomas Cubelli on Duffie, but the Blues get another penalty and they're going to set up a rolling maul here to try to get another one.
49: The rain and wind causing havoc here at the moment. Blues aren't going to give this up, a bit 20-point mountain to climb in the next 30 minutes.
Back to top44: TRY to the Blues again! And it's Kaino for his second. This time beating the Brumbies at their own game with a rolling maul and Kaino jumps off the back to open up a big gap here. Francis converts again.
BLUES 35 lead BRUMBIES 15
43: PENALTY to the Blues - Kuridrani offside after Toua drops a bomb. Blues go for the kill with an attacking lineout, Scott Fardy has blood everywhere..but I guess that's not a surprise. He had 100 stitches during the World Cup campaign last year.
SECOND HALF: The half-time musical chairs is over (seriously, that was the half-time entertainment) and we're back for the next 40minutes. Brumbies kicking off. Here we go.
HALF-TIME: In a interview before leaving the field, one of the Blues' players said: "we're getting dragged into a game we didn't want to play." That's code for we want to play open, running, offloading rugby and not stop-start lineouts and scrums. The first 21 minutes were all open and free flowing. But it turned into a bit of a dog fight after that.
HALF-TIME
Well, that was some great stuff from the Blues there in the second half. But the Brumbies dragged it back and turned it into an arm wrestle.
AT A GLANCE
AUCKLAND BLUES 28 (Jerome Kaino, James Parsons, Sam Prattley, Matt Duffie tries; Piers Frances 4 conversions) lead ACT BRUMBIES (Penalty try, Matt Toomua tries; Christian Lealiifano conversion, penalty)
Back to top40 + 2: The Brumbies get a PENALTY after the siren and they opt for a penalty shot at goal. Most would have expected them to go for the try. But the three points will be valuable at the back end of this game. Lealiifano lines it up with some stitches in his head..and Nails it. How important will that be?
BLUES 28 lead BRUMBIES 15
40: So far the Brumbies' scrum and lineout has been strong, but they're getting smashed in open play. They've got an attacking lineout about 15m out here.
39: If I was Stephen Larkham.. I'd be telling the Brumbies to pump the ball into the grand stand on their clearing kicks in the second half. They cannot afford to let the Blues get it in broken play.
39: Some good news for the Brumbies, Lealiifano is back out there.
37: TRY!!! to the Brumbies. Game back on..maybe. Who knows with this one. I can't keep out. The Blues do a good job of shutting down the rolling maul, but too many of their players get sucked in. The ball comes out to Matt Toomua and he dives over for an easy try. Toomua taking the kick with Lealiifano off. Toomua..misses conversion.
BLUES 28 lead BRUMBIES 12
Back to top36: Game settled a bit..sort of. But we've had some penalties here and Brumbies have another 5m lineout. Blues don't want to get in maul battle.
33: The rain coming down now. Not a good sign if you're trying ti make up 21 points.
31: Christian Lealiifano down in back play, had a head clash and is coming off the field. Andrew Smith coming on for the Brumbies.
29: The Blues shut it down! No rolling maul try for the Brumbies, and then they lose the ball so the Blues are out of trouble.
27: PENALTY to the Brumbies. Blues offside at the ruck. Are they going to go for the points or do they need to go for a try? Interesting choice here. They go for the line and here comes another maul.
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