Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher concedes his side’s first Super 14 win of the season was more reality check than confidence boost.
The injury-ravaged Brumbies outlasted the lowly rated Highlanders 22-20 in Canberra on Saturday night to rebound from last week’s drubbing by the Crusaders.
The Canberra-based side joined fellow Australian franchise the Western Force in posting their first win of the season while opening round winners NSW and Queensland suffered losses.
In a pointer to the tightness of the competition – at least behind New Zealand’s Crusaders and Blues – no Australian side won or lost by more than five points.
“I don’t know whether we’ll take a lot of confidence,” Fisher said of the Brumbies’ win, which moved them to 10th on the ladder.
“I think we’ll know that we’ve got a side that’s prepared to work hard and when a game’s tough that they will roll up their sleeves and work.
“What we do take out of the game is we’ve got an enormous amount of work to do to be competitive in this competition this year.”
But Fisher was hit with another injury blow when centre Anthony Faingaa was ruled out for at least six weeks after tearing a medial ligament, adding to a casualty ward which is already nursing Stirling Mortlock (shoulder), Clyde Rathbone (knee), Adam Ashley-Cooper (ankle), Gene Fairbanks (neck) and Peter Betham (leg).
Force superstar Matt Giteau put his personal disappointment in the fall of Matt Henjak aside to score all of his team’s points in their 16-15 heart-stopping win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Giteau scored a try, a conversion and three penalty goals – including the after-the-bell clincher – to give the Force a win over another side not expected to feature in the finals and move the West Australians to sixth on the ladder.
Coach John Mitchell took aim at the refereeing of the tackle and ruck, pleading for faster ball for his stellar backline.
“We’ve got a real problem. I think the tackle/ruck law is not too dissimilar to what we’ve had in previous years,” he said.
“I’d certainly like to see a lot quicker ball in this competition … if you look at the first two rounds I think it’s very much like the previous Super 14 and Super 12 ruck law.”
The Waratahs are fourth following a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton.
Five-eighth Kurtley Beale had the chance to kick NSW to victory but missed his conversion attempt of Lote Tuqiri’s late try before Chiefs opposite number Stephen Donald booted a final minute penalty goal.
“There’s a few bits and pieces which we can tidy up,” coach Ewen McKenzie said.
“We’re certainly one of the more disciplined teams in the competition, yet the penalty gap was 10-0 after 20 minutes against us.
“It makes it hard when you are playing without the ball.”
Queensland are fifth despite their 23-18 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington but a possible season-ending broken leg to luckless forward Hugh McMeniman and two weeks on the sidelines for halfback Sam Cordingley (groin) were the bigger concerns for coach Phil Mooney.
Perhaps the best result for Australian rugby, though, didn’t involve an Australian team.
New Wallabies coach Robbie Deans’ Crusaders are in rampant early season form and demolished champions the Bulls 54-19 in Pretoria.
The Crusaders top the ladder with the maximum 10 points after two rounds, joined by the Blues who thrashed the Lions 55-10 in Johannesburg.
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The top two Australian teams compete in the best-of-three series for the title of Australian Super Rugby Champion, while the rest of the SRP finals continue as normal.
Despite being proud of the Hurricanes season, the team was outplayed by the Chiefs, going down 30-19.
