SYDNEY (Reuters) -The ACT Brumbies reignited their Super Rugby Pacific campaign with a 27-19 win over Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday to hand the leaders a first loss this season, while the Auckland Blues grabbed a dramatic late victory at the Queensland Reds.
The Hurricanes were caught cold as the Brumbies played some breathtaking rugby to score tries through flyhalf Noah Lolesio, centre Tamati Tua and winger Ollie Sapsford and take a 24-5 lead after 27 minutes at Canberra Stadium.
The New Zealanders had two tries from prop Xavier Numia in the first half and a third from All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett to cut the lead to eight points at 27-19.
The Brumbies, however, muscled up to defy the resurgent Hurricanes over the remaining 34 minutes and ensure they would welcome back skipper Allan Alaalatoa from injury with a statement victory.
"It was awesome, really special to be out there with the boys," said Wallabies prop Alaalatoa, who had not played since injuring his Achilles tendon against the All Blacks last July.
"For the boys to deliver a quality performance like that really topped things off."
The win kept the Brumbies, who suffered a 46-7 loss at the Blues last week, third in the standings on 31 points ahead of the Waikato Chiefs, who beat the New South Wales Waratahs 38-22 on Friday to move to 28.
The Hurricanes stay top of the table with 37 points but are now only one ahead of the Blues.
"Pretty disappointing," said Hurricanes fullback Ruben Love. "One thing that's on my mind at the moment is has it affected our egos in terms of losing our streak or is it a learning curve for us?"
Replacement scrumhalf Sam Nock scored a try after the fulltime hooter to snatch victory for the Blues in a seesaw battle with the Reds in Brisbane.
The visitors led 13-7 at halftime, but a brilliant hat-trick of tries from wing Tim Ryan swung the contest in the favour of the Reds.
But with the scores tied at 34-34 after the fulltime hooter, the Blues launched a final attack and Caleb Clarke's break down the left wing was finished by Nock.
"It was a hostile environment and we played against a good team, so we had to fight for that right down to the last. We were also our own worst enemies at times," Nock said.
The Chiefs, runners-up last year, delivered a convincing win at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Waratahs grabbed an early 12-0 lead but the Chiefs hit back with scores from Emoni Narawa, Cortez Ratima and Wallace Sititi in a 13-minute try blitz after the break.
The Canterbury Crusaders, champions for the last seven seasons, had earlier given the high-flying Melbourne Rebels a wake-up call and sounded a warning to the rest of the competition that their early season woes may be behind them.
The big red machine monstered the Rebels scrum and ran in six tries in Christchurch to secure only their second win of the season with a 39-0 shutout.
Winger Taniela Rakuro scored two tries as Fijian Drua once again proved a cut above in Lautoka on Saturday, beating Moana Pasifika 24-17 to remain in seventh place in the standings.
The Otago Highlanders shot up to eighth in the table with a low-scoring 7-6 victory over the Western Force in Dunedin.
Numerous handling errors from both sides under the closed roof of the Forsyth Barr Stadium had Highlanders scrumhalf Folau Fakatava score the only try of the game six minutes into the second half.
Flyhalf Ben Donaldson kicked two penalties for the Force, who prop up the table.
"We created opportunities but weren't able to capitalise, just a few too many errors," Force scrumhalf Nic White said.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney and Nick Said; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christian Radnedge)
