A “lazy’ and battered Brumbies side face a week of soul searching after crashing 52-10 to the Crusaders in their Super rugby fixture in Nelson on Friday.
Up 10-6 early, the Brumbies were held scoreless for the last 59 minutes as they plunged to a third straight loss and second under new coach Tony Rea.
The Crusaders scored six tries to one and rattled up 46 unanswered points.
Winger Sean Maitland scored a competition record-equalling four tries and five-eighth Dan Carter landed his first eight shots for goal as he accrued 20 points.
Injuries were added to the insult of such a heavy loss with flanker Mitchell Chapman (fractured cheekbone), winger Henry Speight (suspected broken jaw) and hooker Stephen Moore (sprained ankle) all ending up on the casualty list.
The Brumbies scrum performed well against the respected Crusaders eight, but they were clearly outpointed at the breakdown and in the lineouts.
Some glaring missed tackles compounded the visitors’ woes and helped build the unflattering scoreline.
“For some reason we were lazy,” Brumbies skipper and five-eighth Matt Giteau said in his post-match television interview.
“We’re talking a lot at the moment, we’re just not acting on it.”
Giteau scored all of the Brumbies’ points, converting his third-minute try and kicking a penalty.
He pounced on the loose ball to sprint 20 metres and convert for a 7-0 lead.
The Brumbies went into decline after he was sin-binned for a 22nd-minute breakdown infringement described as “deliberate and cynical” by referee Garrett Williamson.
The Crusaders scored 10 points while he was off the field.
Replacement goalkicker, halfback Josh Valentine, missed a fairy simple close-range penalty and his sloppy work at the breakdown culminated in Maitland’s first try, which gave the Crusaders the lead.
Carter kicked another penalty to give the Crusaders a 19-10 halftime lead and they piled on 21 more points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Maitland scored his second try 47 seconds into the second half, former league international Sonny Bill Williams stepped around Wallaby Adam Ashley-Cooper and Maitland completed his hat-trick.
The Crusaders’ centre pairing of Williams and Robbie Fruean were again impressive, with Williams scoring his second try in as many weeks and Fruean scything down Ashley-Cooper just short of the home team’s line following a 60-metre chase.
“We just dropped our heads and let a couple of easy tries in at the start of the second half,” Brumbies prop Ben Alexander told AAP.
The Brumbies have a bye week before hosting NSW.
“We’ve got to look at ourselves pretty hard, it’s not the start we wanted to the season but I think we’ll bounce back,” Giteau said.
“We’ve got to show a lot more character than that, that was really disappointing.”
© AAP 2012Recommend this story.
The Turkey 10
The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.
Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!
Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.
Find out more.
- Explore:
- Brumbies, Crusaders, Rugby Union, Super Rugby
March 12th 2011 @ 7:29am
sheek said | March 12th 2011 @ 7:29am | Report comment
Of course it can’t be the players who are at fault – must be new head coach Tony Rea who is the problem.
How many more weeks before he’s given the bullet…..?
March 12th 2011 @ 7:33am
Nagti Pakeha said | March 12th 2011 @ 7:33am | Report comment
“For some reason we were lazy,” Brumbies skipper and five-eighth Matt Giteau said, News flash Matt you sacked your Coach and now the new coach is to sacred to say anything about your lack of commitment go figure.
March 12th 2011 @ 7:58am
bruski said | March 12th 2011 @ 7:58am | Report comment
This is hardly a surprise is it? They have made their bed.
March 12th 2011 @ 8:15am
AJ said | March 12th 2011 @ 8:15am | Report comment
I saw a bit of this game and two Hurricanes with the numbers 12 & 13 on their jerseys might’ve noticed as well.Fruen and sonny were rampant.(among others)AAc mightve noticed too as he was given a one way ticket over the sideline.
I have little sympathy for the Brumbies but they wont be the last to cop a half ton.
March 12th 2011 @ 3:16pm
Mick Gold Coast QLD said | March 12th 2011 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
The Self Coached Brumbies saw an awful lot of numbers 12 and 13 too, disappearing into the distance!
As much as I’m impressed by Williams and Fruean, AJ, Conrad Smith is very, very quick between the ears and does an awful lot of work that advantages the players around him.
The All Blacks benefit greatly from intelligent decision makers in several positions – I cite Ma’a Nonu’s much improved effectiveness when Tana Umaga was there to do the thinking. Nonu gets something similar from Smith’s presence in his Super 15 team and with the All Blacks.
Both Williams and Fruean are still inexperienced on the big stage and a clever coach could have crafty players cause them indecision. Fruean, as impressive as he has been briefly, is something like Ranger and Lelia Masaga – very good but not yet proven as reliable.
If the Troika has to also substitute new boy Dagg for Mils, for example, they’d also want someone clever with them to direct the talents out wide. In my view they’d be reluctant to dispense with Smith.
Williams, Fruean, Dagg and Joe mooching about unsupervised could be a disaster!
March 12th 2011 @ 10:00pm
AJ said | March 12th 2011 @ 10:00pm | Report comment
Fair call Mick……no disrespect to Smith but that was some serious stuff,both of them ripping possession as well as their size and speed.Smith has plenty as well.Missed most of canes game but sure he was huge.
What is the game plan to counter the Crusaders though?I didnt see the first half but they seem to score at will from 20 to 60 minues and then cruise abit?Maybe the opposing team should try and rack up 40 points in the first 20 while they’re still dozing. Maybe hope they have an off day.
The Crusaders have been a beacon for all rugby during the past decade.They have had a terrible and very emotional time over the past weeks and wouldve been forgiven for being distracted. I am a one eyed Qlder but my hat is off to them.AWESOME.
March 12th 2011 @ 8:24am
MyLeftFoot said | March 12th 2011 @ 8:24am | Report comment
Last week, I said to Brumbies fans to not be too concerned about a close defeat.
Ok, it’s now time to express concern!!
March 12th 2011 @ 11:38am
sheek said | March 12th 2011 @ 11:38am | Report comment
Reminds of a famous anti-quote:
If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t quite grasped the situation.
March 12th 2011 @ 2:02pm
jeznez said | March 12th 2011 @ 2:02pm | Report comment
ha ha ha ha ha – love it
March 12th 2011 @ 2:48pm
Tragic said | March 12th 2011 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
Brilliant.
Tell me, is there anyone who gives a sh!t about these brumbies any more?
They were owned. It honestly looked like men playing boys out there.
Wimps off the field, wimps on it.
I am concerned about the wallabies. How many players forfeited their jersey out there last night?
March 12th 2011 @ 8:30am
Ballboy said | March 12th 2011 @ 8:30am | Report comment
Simply woeful. No discipline, no direction, no unity.
What say you Fagan? What say you senior players? The omlette just keeps expanding.
AAC has lost it for mine. The way Freun picked him up and tossed him over the sideline last night reminded me of Tallis doing that to the NSW origin fullback a few years ago. Moore and Alexander are no where near test players at the moment. I wonder how many they’ll get to their next home match?
March 12th 2011 @ 8:31am
PubLunch said | March 12th 2011 @ 8:31am | Report comment
Is it just me or does Josh Valentine have one of the worst attitudes in Australian rugby? I’ve watched him play since he was 18 and everything from his decision making on the field to his fiery blow ups that will lead to stupid penalties (not as many these days to be fair) never sat right with me. I hate player bashing so please tell me if I’ve just developed one of those irrational but unshakeable beefs that you get over the years of watching too much footy!
March 12th 2011 @ 9:58am
Ballboy said | March 12th 2011 @ 9:58am | Report comment
You’re right Publunch but the problem the brumbies have, amonst many, is that Phibbs is even worse than Valentine. I actaully was going to write about that this morning when I posted earlier. Last week someone suggested Gits at 9. Why not try it and have Toomua at 10. Alongside McCabe he’s been the brumbies best back this year.
Another worrying thing that emerged last week was the idea that the Brumbies are chasing Cheika as their coach for 2012. Not that he can’t coach but aren’t the brumbies sick of being run by the Randwick club.
March 12th 2011 @ 1:25pm
ThelmaWrites said | March 12th 2011 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
No sniping, no box kicks no matter how dubious their value, no change of direction. Yawn.
March 12th 2011 @ 8:39am
AJ said | March 12th 2011 @ 8:39am | Report comment
You are not on your own there PubLunch.He’s always had a good pass but he drinks his own bathwater.
March 12th 2011 @ 9:03am
dwc said | March 12th 2011 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Stephen Larkham, Brumbies coach – you owe an explanation.
March 12th 2011 @ 9:09am
Geoff Brisbane said | March 12th 2011 @ 9:09am | Report comment
What about the poor teams that have to play the Crusaders twice????