Mumm’s the word as the Waratahs claim bragging rights

The NSW Waratahs claimed annual bragging rights over the ACT Brumbies with a hard-fought 24-17 victory in last night’s Super 14 derby played in atrocious conditions at the Sydney Football Stadium.

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A chargedown try to replacement lock Dean Mumm 18 minutes from time sealed the deal as the Waratahs rebounded from a 17-10 halftime deficit.

NSW’s third win from four matches so far this campaign - and 500th in history - lifted Ewen McKenzie’s men to third place on the table, while the Brumbies had only themselves to blame for failing to break into the top four.

Both NSW’s second-half tries came from Brumbies errors inside their own half.

First, Lote Tuqiri put the Waratahs on level terms at 17-17 when he swooped on a loose ball coughed up by Brumbies prop Sekope Kepu and raced 40 metres to score under the posts.

Then Mumm charged down an attempted clearing kick from Brumbies flyhalf Christian Lealiifano, gathered the ball and showed the necessary toe to outpace the cover defence in a 35-metre sprint to the line.

Five-eighth Kurtley Beale’s conversion put the Waratahs in front and the Brumbies never recovered in a match played in mostly driving rain and finishing under flashes of lightning.

While McKenzie was chuffed about his team’s lineout dominance, which ultimately gave the Waratahs enough possession to win two games, losing coach Laurie Fisher admitted his Brumbies simply failed to adapt to the wet and wild conditions.

Fisher said the Brumbies fell on their own sword after attempting to emulate the scintillating running rugby they produced in last week’s 43-11 thrashing of Queensland.

“Probably at 17-10, we could have just kicked the ball,” Fisher said.

“I don’t think anyone was going to go 80 metres to score. So, in hindsight, we probably should have just kicked, kicked, kicked some more and kicked again and we probably would have won the game.

“We tried to play some footy and, in the end, that bit us on the arse.”
A try to winger Peter Playford after the siren had given the Brumbies an unlikely halftime lead.

Sharp-shooting fullback Mark Gerrard - the official man of the match despite being on the losing side - landed the sideline conversion to give the Brumbies a handy buffer at the interval.

Reduced to 14 men following the 28th-minute sin-binning of centre Tyrone Smith, the Brumbies had trailed 10-0 before replacement flanker Julian Salvi carried Waratahs pair Brett Sheehan and Alfi Mafi over the line for a try eight minutes before the interval.

Gerrard also converted that five-pointer from near the touch line to trim NSW’s lead to 10-7 before adding a penalty in the 38th minute to tie the game up and then raising the touch judges’ flags for a third time in the 42nd minute.

A moment of Beale magic set up the first try of the match.

In an otherwise dull half, Beale sliced straight through the Brumbies defence in the 21st minute to put centre Tom Carter in under the posts.

Beale added the conversion and landed a penalty seven minutes later to give NSW their 10-0 advantage.

The Waratahs’ penalty was the result of a seemingly innocuous hit on Beale that prompted referee James Leckie to bin Smith.

It looked a very pedantic piece of officiating, but may have been the spur the Brumbies needed to make a match of it.

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