He won’t trouble Jean de Villiers or Jacob Stockdale for the title of ‘king of the intercept try’ but this was special from New Zealand and Hurricanes scrum-half TJ Perenara.
The All Blacks half-back opened the scoring for the Hurricanes in Saturday’s 24-12 loss to the ACT Brumbies in Canberra with an opportunistic intercept from a Brumbies five metre line-out.
Perenara jumped the passing lane to pick off Brumbies scrum-half Joe Powell’s intended pass to score with a brilliant piece of athleticism.
https://twitter.com/RugbyMadsa/status/1012997431620001794
The Brumbies hit back almost immediately with Connacht bound centre Kyle Godwin crossing in the corner after a nice pass from Wallabies flanker David Pocock to put the hosts back in the game, before further tries from hooker Folau Faingaa, second-row Rory Arnold and winger Andrew Muirhead cancelled out Julian Savea’s first-half try to set up a comfortable 12-point win for the hosts.
The win for the Brumbies snapped a 13-game losing streak against New Zealand opposition for Dan McKellar’s side and also ended an 855 day drought for Australian sides against Kiwi opposition.
Still, nice effort from Perenara, even if it was ultimately in vein of defeat.
