SYDNEY — Berrick Barnes scored a try and kicked two conversions Saturday as the New South Wales Waratahs beat the Super Rugby-leading ACT Brumbies 28-22. Two long-range penalty goals from Brumbies fullback Jesse Mogg broke a 16-16 second-half deadlock. Ater putting flanker Michael Hooper over in the 45th minute, Barnes combined with Hooper again to score himself on the wrap-around to spark the Waratahs' comeback with 15 minutes remaining. The Brumbies led 13-6 at halftime after posting the only two tries of the first 40 minutes through skipper Ben Mowen and center Tevita Kuridrani. Crusaders beat Blues 23-3 in Super Rugby In New Zealand, the Crusaders kept alive their bid for an eighth Super Rugby title, moving into second place in the New Zealand conference and fifth place overall with a 23-3 win over the Auckland-Based Blues in a rain-soaked match Saturday. The seventh win in 11 matches for the Christchurch-based Crusaders moved them ahead of the Blues in the five-team New Zealand conference, though they are six points behind the Hamilton-based Chiefs who beat the Hurricanes Friday and remain the conference leaders. Matches between the Blues and Crusaders, who share 10 Super Rugby title, have been among the showpieces of the season in New Zealand but Saturday's added little to that pantheon. Bulls charge past Highlanders In South Africa, the Bulls charged past the Highlanders 35-18 to retain control of the South African conference and move second overall. Skipper Pierre Spies scored one of the Bulls' four tries in his 100th Super Rugby game and Morne Steyn became the Pretoria team's most capped player in the competition with his 117th appearance. Center JJ Engelbrecht went in for the first try inside two minutes and wing Akona Ndungane's breakout just before halftime maintained the Bulls' control. — Agencies
