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The Brumbies have ended a 12 year drought at Eden Park after staging an incredible second-half comeback to defeat last year’s Super Rugby champions, the Blues, 21-20 on Friday night.
After keeping the Blues pointless in the second half, the Brumbies scored 11 unanswered points and took the lead via a Ryan Lonergan penalty in the final minute to end their hoodoo at the famous venue.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” said Lonergan, after being asked about the opportunity to step up and boot the Brumbies to an important win on the road after a difficult opening month to start the competition.
“We worked so hard throughout the whole game. The forwards knew we were in for a massive day against this quality Blues pack, and the least I could do was kick it over at the end.”
The Blues weren’t helped by the loss of Beauden Barrett at half-time to a hand injury, but Vern Cotter will be livid after his side delivered their worst 40 minutes under his watch since taking over the Super Rugby franchise last year.
Some pin-point box kicks put the home side under pressure and the Blues’ backs couldn’t handle the heat, with Cole Forbes and replacement playmaker Harry Plummer guilty of several telling drops.
With the Blues unable to get their hands on the ball, the visitors got their tails up and then went to town on the home side’s breakdown with Luke Reimer delivering another special cameo off the bench.
But it wasn’t an individual effort that saw the Brumbies turn it around, with the entire squad playing their part in the famous win.
“It means quite a lot,” Lonergan added. “Bernie (Stephen Larkham) brought that up at half-time how long it’s been since we won here and it just shows how good this tour was for us, we came over, we’ve had a tough start, and to be able to finish off a little tour like that is a real positive.”
Brumbies skipper Allan Alaalatoa, who delivered one of his best performances in Super Rugby in years, said it was a “special” win.
“We knew it was going to take a special effort from everyone and I thought we delivered that,” he said.
“We thought in the first half we were doing really well, especially around the ruck, we thought they scored a couple of easy tries, but that’s what they get with quality backs, but the boys dug deep and it took 80 minutes.”
Replacement prop Blake Schoupp celebrates after the Brumbies took down the Blues at Eden Park on March 07, 2025. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Blues skipper Patrick Tuipulotu bemoaned his side’s slow start to the second half and inability to do the little things well.
“I think our set-piece in the last quarter let us down again,” he said. “We weren’t able to diffuse the high ball, a lot of bobbled ball.
“To be up at half-time and come out in the second half and let them back in like that is very disappointing.”
Cotter added: “I think if you just simplify things we lost too much possession. We lost the kick-battle in the air, we couldn’t take ball there, and we got turned over at ruck time and they were very good at spinning us. They’re a good team.”
One of the key turning points in the game came in the 47th minute when the Blues, who led 20-13 after conceding an early penalty in the second half, made a huge linebreak after a big scrum but turned the ball over once again at the first ruck.
“I thought that was a moment we could have really put it into them,” Cotter said. “It didn’t happen, and they stayed there.”
Making the evening even darker for the Blues is the potentially long-term injury setback to Barrett.
Beauden Barrett sits on the bench with an icepack on his wrist after failing to return after half-time during the Blues’ loss to the Brumbies. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
The All Blacks great moved to the No.10 jersey for the first time in 2025 and looked lethal closer to the action, creating space for those outside him and scoring a trademark try as he gassed Nick Frost.
But the veteran playmaker didn’t return in the second half, with Cotter telling Sky during the coverage that his hand injury “doesn’t look particularly good”.
It only got worse for the Blues from there.
Larkham, who delivered his side a spray at half-time following their late fade out, was naturally beaming at full-time.
“I just think for the season now, we’ve started slowly, we’ve lost two of opening three, we had a really tough game last week, we had a six-day turnaround into this, and the boys worked really hard,” said Larkham. “We’ve been so close. It’s every 12 years – 2001, 2013 and now 2025.”
Despite conceding the opening points through a penalty to Barrett in the 10th minute, the Brumbies showed they were up for the first early when they held the home side out early through some fine defence.
Meredith, who was exceptional for the Brumbies, then got the visitors back on track with a penalty minutes later.
Barrett sliced through in typical fashion to score in the 16th minute, but the Brumbies refused to go away and hit back via Alaalatoa in the 21st minute.
But a dreadful five minutes saw the Blues go bang-bang through Angus Ta’avao and Rieko Ioane’s 50th try in Super Rugby to open up a 10 point lead, with Barrett’s inaccuracy in front of goal coming back to bite the home side.
Needing to make an early statement in the second half, the Brumbies banged over an early penalty through Meredith and the No.10 scored after 49 minutes to put the visitors right back in the contest as the Blues fell to pieces.
It took the Brumbies another 30 minutes for their next points, but they couldn’t have been timed any better as Lonergan banged over the match-winning penalty.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.