Australia’s Super Rugby season is over with the Brumbies suffering a 19-point defeat to the Hurricanes during their quarter-final in Canberra.
» Re-live all the action in our live blog
Any pre-game concerns about a lopsided contest were put to bed by a committed start from the home side. They were patient in attack, keeping the ball in hand, and were eventually rewarded with a try to James Dargaville.
Wharenui Hawera held it up before spreading to Andrew Smith who did the same for Dargaville to stroll over untouched, outflanking the packed Canes defence.
Celebrations were short-lived, however, as Wes Goosen danced through moments later for the visitors. Ricky Riccitelli threw a deep line out straight to the winger whose left-foot step left three Brumbies defenders strewn in his wake.
The Brumbies had a slight edge at scrum time, but it was their maul that gave the Hurricanes the biggest headache. It was their go-to play from attacking lineouts and Josh Mann-Rea was the beneficiary in the 16th minute, albeit after several TMO replays to spot the grounding.
The Hurricanes clung on, despite a dearth of possession in the opening 40 and a stroke of luck saw them right back in the contest. Close to the line, TJ Perenara spun a wicked pass straight into the head of prop Ben May which looped over the defence for the alert Jordie Barrett to pounce.
It was 16-15 to the Brumbies at half-time.
The impressive Dargaville was substituted for Christian Lealiifano at the break, giving the home side a spiritual lift, but left them without their most potent attacking threat.
It was a very different story in the second half, with the Brumbies almost permanently pinned inside their own 22. This was despite the temporary absence of Jeff Toomaga-Allen who saw yellow for inadvertent high contact on Hawera.
The precision and purpose the Brumbies showed in the opening 40 was systematically smothered by the reinvigorated Hurricanes.
The home side struggled to get any kind of momentum, rushing clearance kicks into touch with any scraps of possession they could find. The Canberrans toiled manfully, resisting wave after wave of attack but the pressure eventually told.
Consecutive Jordie Barrett penalty goals edged the Kiwis ahead. And it was the Hurricanes own returning hero who broke the game open. Hooker Dane Coles, returning from four months off due to concussion, dummied and stepped through a tiring defensive line, before laying on a simple pass for Perenara to score.
Any remaining Brumbies spirit was broken at that point and Goosen iced the cake when he crossed for his second try in the 76th minute. Ardie Savea and Ngani Laumape ran with purpose for the entire 80 minutes, but it took a concerted team effort for the Canes to put away a resolute Brumbies side.
Coach Stephen Larkham will rue a second-half in which the Brumbies kicked away the bulk of their rare scraps of possession.
Hawera was perhaps the main culprit with multiple aimless grubbers in attack. It was a much improved performance from the home side, however, headlined by strong performances from Rory Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, and Dargaville. Ultimately, justice was done for the Hurricanes vastly superior season.
The Hurricanes live on, with a likely trip to South Africa next week.
The Brumbies exit, meanwhile, puts the Australian conference out of its misery in what has been a sorry Super Rugby campaign. That makes it 0-26 for Aussies vs Kiwis in 2017. With any luck they’ll be tired of winning by the time the Rugby Championship rolls around.
Brumbies 16 (Dargaville, Mann-Rea tries, Hawera 2 pen goals)
Hurricanes 35 (Goosen 2, J. Barrett, Perenara tries, J. Barrett 3 conv, 3 pen goals)
Nobody
Guest
News flash Brumbies, you lost. Never mind lads, gatesy is here to console you! He can wax lyrical about how stupendously amazing you are. Honestly, you were so awesomely awesome in that game, it's almost like you won the whole competition!
taylorman
Guest
They were favourites with me, but I had my fingers crossed.
Martin English
Roar Rookie
second game in a row againstt he Canes where they failed to score in the 2nd 40 minutes. What does that say about the coaching staff ? Not much, except more proof that that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_principle is alive and well (i.e. Larkham's promotion to the Wallbaies squad of coaches is designed to get him out of the Brumbies coaching box).
Republican
Guest
..........NO.........
Republican
Guest
.......every game is a game of two halves otherwise there would be no half time.........
Republican
Guest
.......this epitomises the denial of Australian die hards in this code. Talk about fool hardy false hope. The only way that will transpire is if the All Blacks decide to leave the ground after kick off out of sheer tedium at having to pitt themselves against such a predictable mediocre opposition...........
FunBus
Roar Rookie
The ABs weren't favourite going into the 95, 99, or 03 RWCs - except with one-eyed fanboys like you Kirky.
Dave
Guest
If he said it in any 'text' or not, it doesn't make it any less true
Jerry
Guest
One fortuitous try kind of balanced out by the one disallowed for a 'forward' pass, tbf.
Shane D
Roar Rookie
Poor decision making & untimely errors. Aren't those things that good coaching reduces in brief?
tsuru
Roar Rookie
Yes, Pinetree, I'm sure the Brumbies' defence owes a lot to Peter Ryan. And I'm sorry to hear he is leaving. You'd hope, though, that some credit for good defence could be given to the guys who actually used his patterns and made the tackles. And the lessons learned there should stick with the players. Yes, I know that Nathan Grey is going to be the defence coach for the Wallabies. And I fervently hope, as Nicholas Bishop said last week, that Grey can learn some lessons from the British & Irish Lions defence. I'm sorry you are so pessimistic (nihilistic?) about the Wallabies' future. I did refer to "one small step for the Wallabies" and I did mean a small one. They are in a bad place now, but I believe they still have the possibility of improving and at least having some wins against the Pumas and the Boks. We can't expect an immediate turn-around, but I'm not ready, yet, to chuck out the whole coaching staff. I certainly have faith in Mick Byrne and Mario Ledesma, and, despite the broad criticism of Cheika, Grey and Larkham, I still believe these 3 should be given their chance at least until the end-of-the-year tests. And I'm still wondering who there is available to replace and improve on the current coaching team.
R2D2
Guest
Thank goodness it is over. The Brumbies competed for 40 mins , played against 14 and let in 3 points and the rest was one way traffic. If Oz rugby did not learn anything this year, then Oz rugby is truly dead. The standard of the teams this year were just awful, poor coaching , poor skills, the list is endless. Can the turnaround begin, it about time and the supporters can only wait and endure so long. At this point in time , Oz rugby can not afford to go any lower. Congrats to the Canes, you should not have been placed in such a position , but you were good enough to correct the injustice.
Mason
Guest
Of course it was and like you I am also not surprised to see the same people hurling insults and making excuses for the weak Australian conference. I don't understand how anyone can justify the Brumbies place in the finals.
timber
Guest
It's not fitness. It's a poorer group of rugby players (Brumbies), having to play at a more intense level in order to compete against a better group of players (Hurricanes). The Brumbies started the game at 90% effort, inevitably this waned as the game progressed. The Hurricanes started at 80% effort and they were able to maintain this comfortably, in fact, lift as the game progressed. The problem is that the Hurricanes 80% output is comparable to the Brumbies 90% output. The Brumbies were fighting a losing battle against exhaustion as their greater effort wears them down that much quicker.
Bakkies
Guest
'Bakkies, Rubbish sunshine, the Wallabies never “dominated” the All Blacks ever! ~ the years you mention the Wallabies won a few here and there but they didn’t dominate any rugby team' The Wallabies beat you 3-0 in 1998 you clown and handed out your worst ever loss in 1999.
MH01
Guest
Ummmm. He said competstive , not dominating. Geez at least read the comment. AB fans are like Apple fans....everything is awesome, amazing , brilliant .....
MH01
Guest
And the highlanders got thumped by the crusaders!!
double agent
Guest
I'm quite the expert myself from the comfort of the lounge room!!!
double agent
Guest
Cubelli???? He'd be about the last player the Hurricanes would pick.
double agent
Guest
I'm tired of his stats.