Blues 11 Brumbies 16

The Brumbies got their Super 14 Rugby campaign back on track tonight with a stirring 16-11 victory over the Blues in Auckland.

The Canberra-based franchise were on the back foot for the first 10 minutes, but dominated most of the rest of the game.

Displaying better ball control than of late, the Brumbies ruled at the breakdown and also disrupted the Blues lineout.

The visitors struggled in the scrum early on, but boasted the superior kicking game, with fullback Mark Gerrard excelling in that department.

The Brumbies led 10-3 at the break after centre Stirling Mortlock converted a 30th minute try to five-eighth Christian Lealiifano and also kicked a penalty.

The try came after South African referee Jonathan Kaplan reversed a penalty he awarded to the Blues after an indiscretion by the home team's Troy Flavell.

The Brumbies opted against kicking for goal and were awarded with the try.

Mortlock kicked another penalty early in the second half to make the score 13-3, with Blues five-eighth Nick Evans replying in kind.

Gerrard landed another penalty to restore the Brumbies' ten-point buffer, but it was slashed to five with five minutes remaining after Rudie Wulf capped off a sweeping move for the Blues' only try.

The Brumbies first away win over the Blues since 2001 kept them in touch with the top four, but still left them in the bottom half of the table.

"We had to concentrate on ourselves, the last couple of weeks we've concentrated too much on other sides," Gerrard said.

"We knew we had to be aggressive, especially against the Blues."

BRUMBIES 16 (Christian Lealiifano try; Stirling Mortlock 2 pen con, Mark Gerrard pen) bt BLUES 11 (Rudi Wulf try; Nick Evans 2 pen) at Eden Park, Auckland. Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (RSA).

AAP