Rebels stun Brumbies to make history in Canberra

The Melbourne Rebels stunned Australian Super 15 conference leaders ACT Brumbies with a history-making 13-8 win in trying conditions at Canberra Stadium on Saturday. The upset win by the 11th-placed Rebels also snapped the Brumbies 11-game home winning streak dating back to February last year. Points were hard to come by on the wet and greasy ground with the Rebels leading 13-5 at half-time and a sole penalty by Christian Lealiifano 23 minutes into the second half the only points after the break. It was the first time the Rebels have beaten the Brumbies in Canberra and, for the first time since 2013, they have posted back-to-back wins after beating the Queensland Reds 23-15 in their last outing. It was also payback for the 15-20 loss to the Brumbies in Melbourne earlier in the year. For the Brumbies it meant back-to-back losses after falling to the Auckland Blues last week, and it was their first loss at home since going down to the Reds in February last year. They remain at the head of the Australian conference although their lead has been cut to three points after the NSW Waratahs beat the Wellington Hurricanes 29-24 earlier on Saturday. With the rain creating greasy conditions, the Rebels played basic wet-weather rugby as fly-half Jack Debreczeni kicked low allowing the ball to skate across the wet surface and causing problems for the Brumbies back three. Scrum-half Nic Stirzaker also played a significant role giving his opposite Michael Dowsett, one of three players on debut in the injury-ravaged Brumbies side, a torrid time around the rucks and scrums. The make-shift Brumbies looked every bit a patched-up unit through the first half and with what ball they won they had difficulty making good use of it. Stirzaker, who made several incisive runs from the base of the ruck, sparked the Rebels first try when he carved through a faltering defence to put Sefanaia Naivalu over in the corner. Mike Harris landed the conversion and two penalties to have the Rebels 13-0 up before Henry Speight broke his try-scoring drought for the season when he put the Brumbies on the board on the stroke of half-time. There were no further points until the final quarter when Christian Lealiifano landed a handy penalty to put the Brumbies within striking distance of taking the lead. With five minutes remaining they made a concerted effort from a lineout drive to score a match-saving try but were held back by a determined Rebels defence and eventually turned the ball over.