Brumbies coach Dan McKellar had some sympathy for the Waratahs after his charges snatched a 24-23 win over their NSW rivals on Saturday night.
Trailing by as many as 15 points at the half hour mark, a 77th minute try for replacement halfback Issak Fines and a Bayley Kuenzle conversion gave them a one-point lead in the final minutes.
The win keeps the Brumbies' dominant six-match run over Australian sides and a five-match run over the Waratahs going but that was far from a certainty for much of the night.
Until that final score, it shaped as a night where so much went in the Waratahs’ favour and for the Brumbies, it seemed luck was against them.
McKellar said he felt for the Waratahs, who had dominated for much of the evening.
"The Tahs were very good tonight, good young side, take my hat off to them," he said.
"I feel for them a bit to be honest, they played really well and it was a hard slog, tough conditions, dewy pitch, hard to play any footy, I thought they defended really well.
"We just dug in, we've spoken about that a lot, you get those momentum shifts or swings against us, we'll deal with adversity, so really proud of them (the players)."
A hamstring injury for flyhalf and Wallabies prospect Noah Lolesio looked to compound the Brumbies problems but they managed to find a way to keep themselves in the contest.
Lolesio will go for scans in the coming days to determine the severity of the injury but McKellar was quick to praise his replacement Kuenzle.
"He's got a hammy, don't know how bad it is, what sort of grading it is," he said.
"It'll be a scan and see where he's at.
"I thought BK did a good job, a really good job."
Lolesio has been arguably the form flyhalf of the Super Rugby AU competition but twinged his hamstring in open play, forced off in the 33rd minute.
The Brumbies had already lost starting loosehead James Slipper to concussion in the first 15 minutes.
It wasn’t just luck that went the Waratahs’ way - the NSW pack split the honours with the Brumbies at scrum time, nabbing three scrum penalties against the ACT pack.
The hosts were also strong at the lineout, particularly defensively, and their victories in the set piece area gave them a huge dose of confidence.
McKellar said the set piece was an area that needed to be examined going forward after two matches in which they have been bested.
"Yeah we know it's an area we've got to get better," he said.
"It's something we've always prided ourselves on and it's been a little bit rusty, we had the first week, didn't play in round two and then it was a little bit rusty.
"I thought (Ned) Hanigan and (Rob) Simmons really challenged us in that area there and we've got to be better of course."
NSW skipper Simmons was impressive while hooker Tom Horton had a try in his first start capping off an impressive 64-minute shift.
Waratahs coach Rob Penney was quick to praise the Brumbies but felt his team wasn't rewarded as they could have been for some of their set piece work.
"I put it (the last few minutes) back down to a few penalties that you question how they get into our half, back-to-back penalties from situations where we've got the game, not in control so much because we couldn't get out past that six points, but just becomes a bit relentless when you're having to turn and chase."
The Brumbies had the early attacking momentum and looked to the lineout rather than the posts in almost every occasion.
A Lolesio cross-field kick opened up the opportunity for the Brumbies’ first try, finished by Tom Cusack.
Lolesio’s kick was fumbled by Will Harrison in goal, the NSW flyhalf palming the ball backwards and ultimately into Cusack’s path.
Where the Brumbies looked to set piece, the Waratahs were happy to bank points through Will Harrison’s boot.
They had an injection of confidence taking a pivotal scrum penalty against the Brumbies pack.
Brumbies winger Andy Muirhead was binned in the 21st minute for an offside infringement and the Waratahs were able to capitalise on that quickly.
It was run-on debutant Tom Horton who clinched the five-pointer, sneaking off the back of a rolling maul.
Luck and skill began conspiring for the Waratahs to keep the momentum firmly in hand, with a quick tap from a scrum penalty was quickly put on the boot and a centimetre-perfect bounce was swallowed up by a chasing James Ramm.
Two quickfire tries from the Brumbies, to Folau Fainga’a and Rob Valetini narrowed the gap to just three points in the shadows of half-time, something that proved the turning point in the match.
"We probably only have ourselves to blame for that but those things happen, you're against a good side, a very experienced side, they weren't going to lie down," Penney siad.
"Our boys could easily have got lost, had their confidence dented through that but came out fighting again and scrapping in the second half."
Another Harrison penalty in the 50th minute gave the Waratahs a six-point advantage and they continued to cling to the run of play.
That was the only score of much of the second half but the Brumbeis threatened to snatch back the victory with sheer wight of territory.
Fines sniffed an opportunity and went for the line himself, giving Kuenzle a straightforward conversion attempt for the win.
Rookie Waratahs prop Angus Bell was scratched from the 23 after injuring his back pre-game, replaced by Andrew Tuala in the matchday squad.
"The physio calls it a spooned back which I think means just a bit of a nervy thing going on in the middle zone of his back," Penney said.
"He's young, he needs to be looked after, we're not pushing him."
The Waratahs have a six-day turnaround before facing the Rebels at the SCG next Friday night while the Brumbies face the Force.
RESULT
Waratahs 23
Tries: Horton, Ramm
Cons: Harrison 2
Pens: Harrison 2
Brumbies
Tries: Cusack, Fainga'a, Valetini, Fines
Cons: Kuenzle 2
Yellow card: Muirhead (21’)
