The Brumbies made another emphatic statement as leaders of the Australian conference with a grinding 23-6 victory over their Super Rugby arch-rivals NSW on Saturday.
The Brumbies now have a nine-point buffer at the head of the table on 35 points, edging further ahead of the Waratahs (26 points) and the Reds (25), who play the Crusaders on Sunday.
But the victory may have come at a high cost, with classy pointscoring five-eighth Christian Lealiifano reportedly suffering a suspected broken ankle.
In front of 19,122 at Canberra Stadium, the Brumbies led 13-6 heading into the second half but secured the win in impressive style in the by keeping the Waratahs scoreless after the break.
It ended NSW’s three-game winning streak against the ACT franchise and also dealt the Waratahs their eighth loss on the road from their past 10 matches.
Touted as a do-or-die clash, the Waratahs threw everything at the Brumbies in the first half, running hard and showing their intent early by heading out wide.
They were every chance to open the scoring five minutes in when Kane Douglas broke through the Brumbies’ line, but the visitors failed to convert the opportunity.
Dominating possession, they created multiple opportunities from that point on but looked like settling for a 6-6 scoreline when the halftime siren blew.
Lealiifano and Waratahs goalkicker Brendan McKibbin both had two penalties apiece.
But the never-say-die Brumbies kept the ball in hand for one last attack – and were amply rewarded when Henry Speight inconceivably found room on the wing for the first try of the night.
It gave the Brumbies their seven-point halftime buffer and dealt the Waratahs a psychological blow as they headed to the changerooms.
In an arm-wrestle, Andrew Smith’s try four minutes into the second half all but crushed the Waratahs’ hopes.
Tim
Guest
Jameswm - disagree entirely re the scrum. I thought it was a very good contest with the Brumbies edging the Tahs. Dan Palmer and Steve Moore definitely best tighthead and hooker on the park. Ben Alexander was very ill in 24 hours pre-game and commentators were surprised he could get back out there near the end of the game.
Sam
Guest
Looks like the tahs are finished unless they win the rest of there games which isnt likely considering there playing the bulls and then the stormers the following week.
Patonga
Guest
Its amazing what a Real (world cup winning ) Coach can do to a team of almost no names. The Brumbies were 3rd favorites for the wooden spoon... and look like the only Australia team to make the cut.. Keep up the great work boys and whatever you are doing Jake you are doing it right... Make sure you send in your CV for the position of Wallaby Coach when it becomes available.....
ilikedahoodoogurusingha
Guest
Totally agree Hansie. The way the Brumbies have played this year, it was obvious that if the Tah's were not ahead by half time, they were never going to be. They may be powerful, but not aerobically fit.....and to think the Brumbies had just come back from the Republic too. Needs to be a change of thinking in Waratahland.
jameswm
Guest
Sorry I meant that Ben A was spruiking an all-Brumby front row for the Wallabies - after getting done by the Tahs.
jameswm
Guest
The Tahs forwards were all over the Brumbies for the first 35 mins. They butchered about 3-4 tries with poor last passes, and didn't know how to take advantage of their superiority in the forwards. The Brumbies hung in and were more composed, and the try on half time was a killer blow. I had to laugh at Ben Alexander talking up Dan Palmer so they get an all Aussie front row. The Tahs killed them in the front row in the 1st half, esp Kepu. He was fantastic around the field and in the scrums. The Tahs needed to make more of their scrum dominance by turning it into penalties and penalty tries rather than simply front foot ball. I can't believe they haven't worked this out.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Sorry, what does a salary cap have to do with the poor performance by over-paid professional rugby players? I can't make a link between the two.
DingBob
Guest
I believe the Brumbies are well under the salary cap this season.
Hansie
Guest
The Waratahs didn't look fit enough to me - lots of walking to set pieces, slowing the ball and various other tricks to slow the game down - which isn't acceptable for a Super 15 team, especially one which should be providing lots of representatives to the Australian team.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Fair comment but altruism and the aussie press? That is a stretch. :)
Moaman
Guest
Thanks for the correction PeterK and yeah,I agree with you on the Cheetahs. Rabbitz---I know where you're coming from mate but I guess the Press might(might) be doing it for partially altruistic reasons---trying to pump the game up eg;-).Whether or not the false praise is warranted-these teams do need the proverbial kick---hopefully the "weak aussie conference" thing(which has been done to death and please,let's not revive that debate!) is merely cyclic and it will be someone else's turn next?
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
I love the way the Australian rugby press is using terms such as "The Brumbies made another emphatic statement as leaders of the Australian conference" and "The Australian conference leaders produced another hungry display of attacking rugby". While these statements are in fact true, they are overstating the point, building a fantasy if you will. Currently with the Brumbies in 4th(ish) and the rest wallowing near the cellar it is hardly a glowing compliment to be anything special in the Australian conference. The false sense of ability and proficiency created by using the narrow and flawed example of the Australian conference is detrimental to the progress of the game in this country. The vast majority of Super Rugby team from Australia are under-performing and need a kick in the backside, not narrow, false praise. Time for all of the Australian teams to step up and justify the money they demand and to pay back the the fans who pay cold hard cash to follow these teams. False praise does not help.
PeterK
Guest
thats positions 10-13, 14 is the Lions and 15 the Blues. What is interesting si the Cheetahs in 9th have the same points, the same number of wins, and exactly the same points differential as the tahs. I would not be surprised that they have then resorted to alphabetically. However since the cheetahs have scored more tries they deserve to be in 9th (and played better rugby overall).
Moaman
Guest
With the trailing 4 Australian teams occupying #10-14 on the overall ladder it seems increasingly clear that the Brumbies will be sole representatives of their country in the playoffs. That makes the cruel injury to CL even more sad.