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Stephen Moore’s Brumbies rode roughshod over the hopelessly under-equipped Sunwolves 66-5 to join the Waratahs at the top of the Australian Conference table on 34 points, but take the lead on for and against difference.
The next four weeks will be devoted to the June international window, and when Super Rugby resumes, the Brumbies are in the box seat with an easier draw to win the Australia Conference and automatically qualify for the finals series.
The Brumbies have the Reds at home, Blues away, and Force at home -compared to the Waratahs home run of Sunwolves in Tokyo, Hurricanes at home, and Blues away,
Last night was virtual one-way traffic as the Brumbies crossed for ten tries, with Christian Lealiifano converting eight of them.
The Sunwolves were hopelessly outclassed.
The best story is veteran lock Hitoshi Ono who drinks at least ten beers a night in a throwback to the amateur days when the amber liquid was the rugby currency, and not hefty contracts.
What’s more, Ono is 38 and has 96 caps for Japan, including the major upset of the last Rugby World Cup when they beat the Springboks for the first time with a try in the corner after the siren.
It took 66 minutes last night for winger Akihito Yamada to score the Sunwolves only points, which underlined how they will never compete until they can find some bigger footballers.
By comparison, the Brumbies bristled with talent.
Not only do they have ten in the Wallaby squad to meet England, but fullback Aidan Toua, and halfback Michael Dowsett are unrecognised talent.
Both are the full bottle in attack and defence.
Toua (26) has had a limited career with both the Reds and Brumbies, yet last night he was involved in everything with a top shelf performance.
He’s not a fill-in footballer, he’s a frontliner.
Dowsett is one of three Brumby halfbacks behind Puma international Tomas Cubelli and Wallaby squad bolter Joe Powell.
But Dowsett is a frontliner as well with swift and accurate service, solid defence, and high quality rugby nous.
Expect to hear a lot more about these two sooner than later.
And tall timber lock Rory Arnold did his chances no harm of making his Wallaby debut against England.
At 208cm, Arnold is arguably the tallest rugby footballer on the planet, but he’s mobile as well and in coach Michael Cheika’s plans.
Now rugby fans can focus on the Wallabies and their three-Test tilt with England.
Or will it be more Michael Cheika versus Eddie Jones, the return of the Randwick legends now on opposite sides of the rugby fence?
Reckon their verbals may even outpace the 80 minutes in the middle.