The Brumbies have bounced back in style with a thumping 42-14 victory over the Western Force in their Super Rugby AU clash in Canberra.
Stinging after suffering their first loss of the season against the Queensland Reds in their last home game, the Brumbies were almost unstoppable in the Friday night match at GIO Stadium, scoring six tries.
They set up the win with a dominant first half, rushing to a 28-0 halftime lead with centre Len Ikitau collecting two of their four first-half tries.
Halfback Nic White said his team were intent on playing “positive rugby” after their two-point loss to the Reds.
“It’s never fun going into a bye week after a loss and we stewed on that for two weeks as we waited to get out and throw it around,” the Test number nine told Stan Sports.
“I was really proud of the way the boys wanted to play the game – we played some good rugby.”
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
With 67 per cent of possession and a stunning 85 per cent of territory in the opening 40 minutes, the Brumbies starved the visitors of ball.
The Force did themselves no favours with a 9-0 first-half penalty count, while they had to replace injured five-eighth Jake McIntyre in the eighth minute, with veteran Jono Lance stepping in.
Despite the scoreline the Perth team deserved praise for their defensive efforts in the first half given their lack of ball.
They twice stopped likely Folau Fainga’a tries, although the Brumbies hooker looked to have got the ball across the line on the second effort despite the TMO ruling no try.
Their defensive wall cracked however when ex-Brumbies centre Tevita Kuridrani was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, which came after a spate of penalties.
Ikitau reaped the reward of some slick passing to score both his tries while their opponents were a man down.
The margin could have been greater but for diminutive Force fullback Jack McGregor pulling off a flying tackle that knocked number eight Pete Samu into touch over the tryline, saving what had looked a certain five-pointer.
Force skipper Brynard Stander said his team couldn’t afford to give up such a lead against the reigning champions.
“The first 20 minutes we didn’t touch the ball – obviously too many mistakes on our end, too many penalties, and we allowed the Brumbies to keep pressure on us,” Stander said.
The Force regrouped to post their first points in the second half, with Kuridrani offloading to fellow centre Henry Taefu to score in the 53rd minute.
That seemed to spark the Canberra players and reserve rake Lachlan Lonergan burrowed across four minutes later.
The teams went toe to toe as they emptied their bench, and the Force collected a second through Ian Prior, taking advantage of a yellow card to prop Harry Lloyd after repeated Brumbies infringements.
But the home side had the final say with winger Andy Muirhead crossing for his second try to cap the win.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
Honestly, I can't see more than Hosea, Uelese and Toomua with maybe Hodge from Rebels, Harrison and a smokey in Tizzano from Tahs Fergus and Kataiu'u from Force making it to the Wallabies 40 man squad. The other 33 players will be Brumbies and Reds on current form. Our current problems are a second loose head prop, a lineout caller and a fullback. Brumbies should push Mack Hanson to 15 and Banks to the wing to give Hanson a go against the Tahs because Hanson is a fullback with a lot of potential who could be a contender in a very narrow field for Wallabies 15.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
Yellow card for intentional knock down is the worst rule in rugby.
soapit
Roar Guru
and a fair bit of evidence there wouldnt be a big downside given league lets you do it and no one gets upset. rugby needs less rules in general and this one wouldnt be missed. (tho they do seem to love to putting in more rules/complications, and all the while ref decisions are not as accurate as we'd all like)
Double Agent
Guest
I barely ever do this but at half time I had to pack it in.
Double Agent
Guest
"the number of strange decisions is spreading as much as corona !!!" In Australia that means - thankfully - hardly at all.
piru
Roar Rookie
The fact they've got to twist the rules so far to make it an infringement that it ends up being considered foul play and thus subject to a card is ridiculous. If he knocks it on, fine, it's a knock on, play advantage or set a scrum. The other up side would be passing would get more accurate pretty quickly
soapit
Roar Guru
Agree very little lost by letting them go and gain having 15 on 15 more often
piru
Roar Rookie
Should have been called held up, another Berry mystery
piru
Roar Rookie
I'm going to put this out there yet again, I think penalizing knock downs is against the spirit of the laws. We must be the only sport that expects defensive players to stand there and watch passes go by and do nothing. If you knock a pass away in football, AFL, basketball, American football, hockey, literally any other game, it's just considered playing defence.
James GC
Roar Rookie
Explains why he went missing lol
DJ
Roar Rookie
Sio didn’t play last night
CUW
Roar Rookie
@ JEZNEZ the number of strange decisions is spreading as much as corona !!!
James GC
Roar Rookie
Agree with all of that, Sio went missing again though. There really isnt anyone else putting their hand up again this year so I guess we will see him in wallabies Gold again.
jeznez
Roar Guru
People comment on the Brumbies “illegal” rolling maul tactics, surely this is worse? Maybe if a team starts using this as one of their main scoring methods every game then people will complain. As it stands it just looks like the ref incorrectly called short and Prior took advantage. Smart play but not something you can count on every week.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Yeah, that’s all the issue was, he called it short when it appeared to be over. Because it’s called short it’s a ruck. Brumbies can’t kill it and have to retreat to the try line. Grounding takes place within that the ruck because it shouldn’t have been a ruck in the first place.
Noodles
Roar Rookie
Brumbies really have done a great job of developing a single squad mindset. They’re down a few key players but others step up. Notably the forwards. Our back the 10-13 are looking really good and they’ve a back three that work together really smoothly. While Slipper was a big influence I also noted the 6&7 and locks in many key moments. FF is so much fun to watch and appears to be getting his throws right. A few weeks ahead they might be giving us some pay against kiwi teams.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
Not really. If it is over the line there is no ruck and it’s a free for all. It should not have been called short and a ruck by the ref. The brumbies should have been able to pounce all over it.
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
Doesn't the ball have to be stopped and unable to move to be held up? Usually it is trapped under players and cannot move. In this case the ball was available for the play to continue.
In brief
Guest
It was like watching the crusaders - teachers pet - Neville’s try was definitely a forward pass - commentators didn’t pick it up either
In brief
Guest
Given it’s the Brumbies let’s ask: How do you legally defend a rolling maul from 5 metres? How can you tell if a scrum is dominant or intentionally collapsing?