Brumbies overcome Reds with 40-27 victory

Brumbies 40-27 Reds, GIO Stadium
Scorecard

Brumbies maintained their winning streak as they overcame their Australian rivals Reds 40-27 in their Super Rugby face-off at GIO Stadium on Saturday.

The win also means Brumbies will face Sharks in the quarter-finals while Reds end their campaign with the 10th defeat from 16 games.

The first points in the game came in the sixth minute when Bryce Hegarty scored a converted try to get Reds off the mark but they were reduced to 14-men temporarily eight minutes later when Taniela Tupou was sin-binned for a high tackle.

Brumbies capitalised on the numerical advantage with a try from Andy Muirhead in the 19th minute but Christian Leali'ifano missed out on the extras. The match was equally contested with both the teams looking for points and the deadlock eventually broke with a 30th-minute penalty kick from Hegarty.

Just as the half-time was approaching, Brumbies had the upper hand with a touchdown from Lachlan McCaffrey in the 36th minute followed by a penalty try that also resulted in a sin-bin for Scott Higginbotham as the teams went into the break with a 19-10 scoreline.

The home side extended their momentum into the second half with tries from Rory Arnold (46') and Tom Wright (49') and Leali'ifano kicked both the conversions to make the scoreline 33-10. The response from Reds came from Matt McGahan when he kicked a drop goal in the 53rd minute and Duncan Paia'Aua followed with a 63rd try to make the scoreline 33-20.

The final 10 minutes saw Murray Douglas and Liam Wright trade tries as Brumbies went on to complete a 40-27 win.