Highlanders seal semi-final spot with 15-9 victory over Brumbies

Brumbies 9-15 Highlanders, GIO Stadium
Scorecard

The defending champions Highlanders will be the first team in the 2016 Super Rugby season to book a berth in the semi-final after defeating Brumbies 9-15 in the first quarter-final at the GIO Stadium on Friday.

This will be the first time in four years a team from Australia will not feature in the semi-final of a Super Rugby season. Wallabies star trio Stephen Moore, Matt Toomua and David Pocock have also played their final game for the Brumbies.

Toomua has made a switch to the English Premiership club Leicester Tigers while Moore has signed a new deal with Queensland Reds. Pocock will be on a 12-month sabbatical.

Fly-half Lima Sopoaga made full use of the penalty offered to the Highlanders as he helped his team gain a 3-0 lead inside five minutes. However, his counterpart Christian Leali'ifano responded with a couple of penalties in the next 12 minutes as Brumbies managed to take a 6-3 lead.

With three minutes left in the first-half winger Waisake Naholo crossed over scoring the first try in the game which also saw Toomua sin-binned hampering Brumbies' chances. At half-time, Highlanders had a slender four-point lead over the Brumbies.

Both teams had difficulty in gripping the ball in a wet Canberra night. Leali'ifano missed an opportunity to reduce the margin to one-point when Highlanders' flanker Shane Christie was penalised. However, he made the chance in the 51st minute count.

Despite, Sopoaga missing few penalties in the second half, he made a crucial interception in the 56th minute Matt Faddes, who eventually passed on to number-eight Liam Squire to score the second try of the game for the Highlanders.

Trailing Highlanders by 9-15, Brumbies put on a desperate effort in the final 10 minutes but were unsuccessful.