Roar Guru
Week five of the 2013 Super Rugby season sees a clash between two unbeaten sides as the Brumbies take on the Sharks in Durban. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 2.05am AEDT.
The young Brumbies side have been rampant so far this season, clocking wins over the Queensland Reds, the Melbourne Rebels and the NSW Waratah, which has seen them take the top spot on the Super Rugby ladder.
The Canberra side have shown tenacity in their willingness to counter attack from anywhere on the park, with Jesse Mogg standing out as the in-form fullback in the country and one of the best in the competition.
Mogg has scored three tries in three games and will be looking to bring this form with him on the South African tour.
The Sharks have also been impressive with victories over the Cheetahs, Stormers and most recently the Southern Kings.
While they have won all these games they were tryless in their last two matches, causing coach John Plumtree to ask his players to ‘unleash the demon’ he went on to say:
“In this competition, unless you score some tries you are not going to win it and we know that, and we have some time to fix that up,” he said.
“We will get better.”
The Sharks’ forward pack have been dominant this year and will bring their usual abrasive style to the Brumbies and look to enforce their dominance at the collision area.
The Brumbies this week announced that star openside David Pocock will miss the rest of the tournament with a knee injury, rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.
This is a mammoth loss but Jake White will be expecting recently returned Wallabies legend George Smith to step in and use all the experience that he has earnt from his 122 Brumbies games.
I see the breakdown being the key to this match and if Smith can turn back the years he may well see himself getting a call up to the Wallabies come Lions time.
I predict this to be a close one with the outcome entirely dependent on the Brumbies coping with immense pressure from the Springbok-studded Sharks pack at the breakdown.
If they can absorb this force and counter well I see the Brumbies getting a win by less than seven.