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A stunning final quarter, including marvellous doubles to Corey Toole and Pete Samu, has seen the Brumbies finish over the top of the Highlanders to move within striking distance of the ladder-leading Chiefs.
Stephen Larkham’s side were under all sorts of pressure when Luke Reimer was sent to the sin bin seconds after Test halfback Folau Fakatava threw the world’s biggest dummy and managed to score to give the Highlanders a six-point lead after 59 minutes.
But 22 straight points, including two tries with Reimer sitting in the bin, saw the home side seal a 48-32 bonus-point win.
The victory saw the Brumbies (41) move into second spot and close to within five points of the Chiefs (46), with the top two sides in Super Rugby to play in the penultimate round of the regular competition in Canberra.
Corey Toole scored a spectacular try against the Highlanders to lead the Brumbies to a bonus point victory at GIO Stadium, on May 14, 2023, in Canberra. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
While Larkham was left far from pleased with his side’s defensive work, he will have been thrilled by the Brumbies’ composure, decision-making and fitness.
Samu, who was one of his side’s best on both sides of the ball, showed his class with the ball-in-hand by taking advantage of the Highlanders’ inability to exit their own line safely after scoring points.
But it was Toole’s second try that would have pleased Larkham the most.
After Ollie Sapsford’s up-and-under near his own 22m line came off the side of his foot, the Brumbies managed to regain the ball and Rob Valetini got the home side on the front-foot.
It was then that the home side sensed an opportunity out wide.
Noah Lolesio, who grew as the game went on and the pressure role, passed to Tom Wright and the Wallabies outside back, who is expected to re-sign on a new two-year deal, saw Toole out wide and a miss-match in front of him.
Toole burned his opponent, chipped ahead and then after a favourable bounce smartly toed ahead to score.
It was phenomenal counter-attacking rugby that was a throwback to the days when Larkham and Joe Roff made Super Rugby and the Brumbies the envy of the domestic world.
“I think it’s every week, but we’re in this ding-dong battle right up until the 60th minute and then we’ve got really good composure and confidence coming off the bench,” Larkham said.
“I don’t know what the boys were feeling, I haven’t spoken to them yet, but from the box we were a little bit nervous with the score being so tight, but they just looked so composed and so confident and you can see it with some of their calls as well.
“That try we scored in the corner, the confidence to go down the front of the lineout and allow them to get over the line.”
Stephen Larkham was pleased with his side’s resilience and composure but said the Brumbies still had plenty to do. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
Toole was crucial to the Brumbies’ second half surge.
After dotting down out wide after a subline ball from Sapsford, his raw pace and skill to score his second try was straight out of the top draw.
But Larkham was quick to hose down his epic feats, saying the Super Rugby rookie needed to ensure he was just as effective on the defensive side of the ball after slipping off a tackle from Thomas Umaga-Jensen to let in a try.
“Yeah, Tooly’s going alright,” Larkham told Stan. “Man of the match, I believe. He made a couple of mistakes, he’d be disappointed with those.”
“You wouldn’t have voted for him?” Justin Harrison asked.
“Not on some the things that he did wrong,” Larkham replied.
“He does a lot of good things. We can score tries and we’re quite an exciting team to watch but defensively we’ve got to make some better decisions and we’ve certainly got to make some better tackle completions out there.”
Larkham’s not wrong, the Brumbies’ attack continues to grow but they were too easily beaten around the ruck with the Highlanders troubling the home side with the ball-in-hand.
The Highlanders’ strike power was on show all afternoon, with flying winger Jona Nareki proving a handful to bring down alongside Billy Harmon and Umaga-Jensen.
After a strange start featuring a number of scrums, the Highlanders opened the scoring when Freddie Burns banged over a penalty from straight in front after 11 minutes.
But the Brumbies would have been pleased the Highlanders didn’t elect for more, with the visitors looking dangerous early.
Their lead didn’t last long as Len Ikitau showed strength and class to somehow stretch out to score out wide and hit back immediately.
Len Ikitau scored the Brumbies’ opening try against the Highlanders on May 14, 2023, in Canberra. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Andy Muirhead was beaten minutes later in the air and Nareki pounced and easily stepped past Wright to fire back for the Highlanders.
In a see-sawing first half, the Brumbies got back in front when Jahrome Brown barged over before Highlanders prop Dan Lienert-Brown responded.
The Brumbies then punished the Highlanders once again for not clearing their own line after scoring points as Darcy Swain crashed over out wide.
Burns’ penalty on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors a 20-19 lead.
Umaga-Jensen showed his brute force by running through Toole, before the flying winger made up for his missed tackle by scoring out wide after some slick work from the Brumbies’ midfield.
The game looked to turn once again when Fakatava scored midway through the second half.
Even though Reimer did his best to roll away, the on-ball flanker was sent to the sin bin after multiple penalties from the home side near their own goal line.
But a penalty from the kick restart allowed Lolesio to kick deep into the Highlanders’ territory and a clever short lineout worked for the Brumbies as Samu crashed over to close the margin to a point.
Despite playing with 14 men, the Brumbies had all the running as Toole opened up out wide and showed off his incredible skill set to blitz the Highlanders and score.
Lolesio’s penalty gave the home side some breathing space.
While the Highlanders looked like they would hit back, some more good work from Reimer at the breakdown, which continued the fine work from Blake Schoupp, allowed the Brumbies one last chance at working towards a bonus point try.
Despite being beaten at the front of the lineout, some clever work from Connal McInerney saw the replacement hooker break free.
McInerney found a flying Ryan Lonergan, who came on before half time because of sternum injury to Nic White, who linked up with Samu to score a spectacular try and seal a marvellous comeback victory.
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