Brumbies overpower spirited Waratahs in bruising Super Rugby clash

• As it happened: Brumbies v Waratahs
• Gibson takes positives from defeat

The ACT Brumbies have snapped a four-game losing streak against the NSW Waratahs, notching up back-to-back wins to start their Super Rugby campaign with a hard-fought 32-15 victory in Canberra. 

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Brumbies smash 'Tahs to end hoodoo

The Brumbies ended their four-match losing streak against the Waratahs in style with a 32-15 win over their rivals in round two of Super Rugby.

The Waratahs had beaten the Brumbies five times in their last six clashes and went into Friday's blockbuster quietly confident, but a late penalty try to the Brumbies - and a disallowed Kurtley Beale five-pointer because of obstruction - propelled them to the top of the Australian conference.  

After dominating play in the first half, the Brumbies looked like they were going to dish the Waratahs out the same treatment as they gave the Hurricanes last week, but a dogged performance from the visitors ensured the game went deeper than most had expected.

Overpowered at the scrum for the second week in a row, the Waratahs had to give up the penalty try which put the Brumbies 25-15 up before Beale was denied after slicing through a gap created by Tolu Latu's obstruction.

Nigel Ah Wong's dashing score on the stroke of full-time summed up the Brumbies' newfound attacking style of play, however. They know how to grind out a win and showed they have the attacking flair to match it with the best in the competition.

A crowd of 20,142 – the highest figure for a Brumbies game in three years – came to see the match-ups of Christian Lealiifano against Beale, David Pocock against Michael Hooper and Stephen Moore against Tatafu Polota-Nau, and went home having seen a good old-fashioned arm wrestle with more than enough spice.

It came at a cost, with a number of players leaving from the field injured. Polota-Nau (hand), Rob Horne (knee), Bryce Hegarty (knee) and Brumbies lock Blake Enever (shoulder) face nervous waits to see how serious their injuries are.

Pushes and punches punctuated both halves, all for Wallabies coach Michael Cheika - who made the trip down the Hume Highway - to take in. 

Moments after the biggest scrap of the evening – which resulted in a bloodied Matt Toomua coming off second best – Joe Tomane went under the sticks to put the Brumbies up by more than a converted try. But a breakaway from Israel Folau moments later, finished off by Nick Phipps, reduced the deficit to 18-15 with 20 minutes to play. 

The Waratahs did well to stay within striking distance. Coach Daryl Gibson had asked for more discipline from his troops during the week, so when Angus Ta'avao gave away two cheap penalties in a row – the second gifting Lealiifano the opening penalty of the night – before Will Skelton was sent to the bin for a high shot on prop Scott Sio, it would hardly have pleased him seeing four penalties in as many minutes.

Lealiifano then zig-zagged his way through Dave Dennis and Polotu-Nau before converting his own try to put the Brumbies 8-0 up. At that point the Waratahs had no answers with just 25 per cent possession in the opening 20 minutes.

Enter Folau. With ball in hand ten metres out from the Brumbies line, he palmed off winger Tomane before fooling fullback Aidan Toua – who thought the Wallaby star would pass out wide – to give the Waratahs their first points. Gibson had predicted Folau would be the difference during the week and it was a statement not too far off the mark, despite the 17-point margin at the end. 

The Brumbies' rolling maul was technically impressive as always – they almost scored with it late in the first half, but were compensated by the sin-binning of Dean Mumm for collapsing a scrum "going at a rate of knots".

With the Waratahs down to 14 men for 20 minutes of the opening half, the Brumbies failed to capitalise on it as Beale levelled the scores at 8-8 in the 36th minute. Somehow, the Waratahs hung on by the skin of their teeth; something they could take solace from at half-time, if not at the final whistle.