Saturday 18 April 2015 21:15, UK
The Waratahs ended the Hurricanes' unbeaten start to the season while there were also wins for the Highlanders and Rebels.
The final unbeaten record in Super Rugby is gone after the Hurricanes were defeated 29-24 by the Waratahs at Westpac Stadium.
Last season's champions have struggled for form so far in 2015, but produced their best performance of the campaign to end Wellington's winning streak at seven, and move into the top six themselves.
The Hurricanes did manage to pick up an extra bonus point for the close finish to put them a point ahead of the Waikato Chiefs, who had briefly hit the front of the competition following their 26-9 win over the Canterbury Crusaders on Friday.
After the Hurricanes bungled two early scoring chances when Ardie Savea lost the ball over the line and brother Julian was called back for a forward pass, it was the Waratahs who scored first.
From a sustained attack on the Hurricanes line that went through a a total of 11 phases, Peter Betham eventually found a hole in the defence to cross for the opening try.
The Hurricanes struck back with two tries in two minutes with skipper Conrad Smith getting over first, running down the short side from a five-metre scrum.
Beauden Barrett converted from out wide and then scored their second almost immediately when he gathered his own chip kick from the restart and raced 60 metres to the line.
The Waratahs' two most influential forwards featured in their second try with Wycliff Palu starting the move and Will Skelton finishing it.
Brad Shields scored the Hurricanes' third try in the countdown to half-time and Betham instantly responded with his second try for the Waratahs as the first half ended at 19-19.
Scoring was harder to find in the second period as the Waratahs stepped up the physicality in the second half, taking control up front and opening up a 10-point lead.
Israel Folau stepped around Julian Savea for their bonus-point try with Foley landing the conversion and a penalty, before TJ Perenara scored a late try for the Hurricanes to ensure they at least escaped with two bonus points.
Waratahs captain Dave Dennis said: "Not many people gave us a chance against the leaders, but we had a lot of belief that we could come over here and put in a good performance, and although it wasn't perfect it was a very big win for us."
Auckland's second-half fightback came just too late as the Otago Highlanders held on for a 30-24 victory in Dunedin.
The Highlanders scored three quick tries and led 24-0 at half-time but only had two Lima Sopoaga penalties to boost their total in the second half as the Blues gathered strength.
Malakai Fekitoa scored the first try, which was set up by Waisake Naholo, who then scored their second with Sopoaga converting both and landing a penalty.
Otago weathered 10 minutes of solid defending deep in their own territory and then broke out to finish the half with Fekitoa's second try extending their advantage to 24 points.
The Blues moved the scoreboard straight after the resumption with a try to George Moala but when the Highlanders replied immediately with a Sopoaga penalty it was time for Auckland coach John Kirwan to move his All Blacks, who started on the bench, on to the field.
Charlie Faumuina's first touch saw him gallop 30 metres up field to set the Blues up for a series of pick and drives close to the Highlanders line with lock Patrick Tuipulotu eventually getting across.
Keven Mealamu drove over for the Blues' third try when the Highlanders were down to 14-men, Joe Wheeler having been yellow-carded, and Bowden was successful with a conversion for the first time as the gap narrowed to 27-17.
The Highlanders replied with a Sopoaga penalty before Mealamu came back with his second try, but Auckland ran out of time as they looked for a potential match-winning touchdown.
The Melbourne Rebels stunned Australian Conference leaders ACT Brumbies with a history-making 13-8 win in trying conditions at Canberra Stadium.
The upset win by the 11th-placed Rebels also snapped the Brumbies 11-game winning streak at home 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.
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 cause problems for the Brumbies back three.
The makeshift 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.
Scrum-half Nic Stirzaker, who made several incisive runs from the base of the ruck, created 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 give the Rebels a 13-0 lead 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 the hosts 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.
The Stormers held on to record a hard-earned 13-6 win over the Western Force in Perth.
The defence of the Stormers held up, especially in the dying seconds, as they kept the Force at bay to cling on for a win that kept them on track to play in the finals this season.
The Stormers took their record to six victories from nine games, while the Force have just one win, having lost their last eight matches, many by narrow margins.
Once again, the Force had more than enough possession to cause an upset, but their inability to score tries continues to plague them.
Having pressured the Stormers for long periods in the second half, the Force had one last chance to square the match when they advanced towards the tryline after the final siren.
They were agonisingly close to their first try of the night, with Ross Haylett-Petty ruled to have been held up over the try line to end the match.
The Stormers scored the only try of the night, a penalty try awarded after a scrum in the 10th minute, and led 10-6 at half-time.
An easy penalty conversion by Kurt Coleman in the 75th minute was the only score in the second half.
The Bulls moved back to the top of the South African Conference courtesy of a 17-10 win over the Sharks in Durban.
Francois Hougaard scored the visitors’ only try on 35 minutes, while Handre Pollard slotted four penalties to seal their sixth victory in nine games.
The Sharks opened the scoring after 17 minutes when Fred Zeilinga, standing in for the injured Patrick Lambie, kicked a penalty, but Pollard levelled matters with his first kick on the half hour.
The Bulls moved into an 8-3 interval lead when Rudy Paige and Hougaard combined, the latter crossing for a well-worked try.
But the Sharks hit back in the opening minute of the second half, Cobus Reinach bursting through the defence and offloading for Marcell Coetzee for a converted try.
Pollard put the Bulls back in front from a penalty, and he added two more in the final 14 minutes to secure a valuable victory.
Fly-half Nick Frisby booted a late drop goal as Australia's Queensland Reds claimed a tense 18-17 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Trailing by two points going into the final seven minutes, Frisby put his side in front to end a six-game losing streak for the Brisbane-based team.
Cheetahs fly-half Joe Pietersen then missed a simple penalty chance that hit the upright in the final minute to cap a disappointing outing for the home side.
Trailing 10-3 at the break, The Reds scored two tries in the first 11 minutes of the second half through New Zealand-born flank Adam Korczyk and centre Samu Kerevi to turn the game on its head.
But they trailed going into the closing stages of the match after Cheetahs flank Boom Prinsloo barged over from close-range to go with a first-half effort from flyer Rayno Benjamin.
Wing James O'Connor booted a penalty and a conversion for the Reds to score their other points, while Pietersen converted both his team's tries and added a penalty to his match haul, but could not kick his side to the win at the very death.
