Brumbies top in Super Rugby as COVID impacts New Zealand fixtures

SYDNEY : Australia's ACT Brumbies edged the Queensland Reds in a Canberra thriller to top the standings at the end of round five of Super Rugby after all but one of the matches in New Zealand were called off because of COVID outbreaks at franchises.

The Waikato Chiefs were the winners of the only match on the eastern shore of the Tasman Sea, backing up last week's upset of the Canterbury Crusaders with an emphatic 59-12 victory over Moana Pasifika in Auckland on Saturday.

Playing with a severely weakened side because of a string of COVID cases in their squad, the Chiefs ran in nine tries to thrash the competition new boys, who were playing only the second match of their maiden campaign and the first at home.

Moana were unable to play their first two matches due to a COVID outbreak in their squad and also saw last week's game postponed when the Wellington Hurricanes could not field a team because of the virus.

"It's nice to be home (but that) wasn't good enough tonight against a quality side like the Chiefs," said Moana captain Sekope Kepu.

The other new team, Fijian Drua, were seconds away from their second victory of the season on Saturday only for Bayley Kuenzle to slot in a last-gasp penalty to give Western Force a 20-18 win at Sydney's Leichhardt Oval.

In a Friday grudge match, the Brumbies held on to avenge their last-minute loss to the Reds in last year's Super Rugby AU final with a 16-12 victory that gave them a 5-0 record for the season.

The Reds, who were also unbeaten going into the match, almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat again but skipper Fraser McReight's 79th-minute hackthrough bounced off the post, preventing him from regathering for a try.

The Brumbies top the standings with 22 points ahead of