The Brumbies made amends for their round two defeat at AAMI Park by evening the ledger at Canberra Stadium, overcoming the RaboDirect Rebels 32-17 on Friday. On a cold night in the nation’s capital, the Rebels were feeling the heat from early on, with the Brumbies snaring three tries inside the first half-hour to stamp their authority on the contest.
The win leaves the Rebels at the foot of both the Australian conference and the overall Super Rugby ladder, with just one round remaining. The bonus point win for the Brumbies puts them in with a shout of third place domestically, a finish that looked unlikely before back-to-back victories over first the Reds and then the Rebels.
The Rebels suffered with a lack of discipline, particularly early on, with the penalty count hurting any continuity. These costly turnovers were compounded by damaging missed tackles in defence, making an away victory unlikely from the off.
As has so often been the case in their debut season, the Rebels were behind soon after kick off. Inside four minutes Christian Lealiifano moved into the line from fullback close to the right wing, stepped devastatingly inside to wrong-foot the Rebels defence and score near the corner. The Rebels had plenty of numbers behind the ball but a lack of execution again costly them dearly.
A Mark Gerrard chip and chase sparked the Rebels into life but it wasn’t until the twelfth minute that they looked like scoring. A fifteen-phase attack led the Rebels into Brumbies territory, creating the space for a Julian Huxley drop-goal. His effort hit the post, creating a goal-line scramble, from which Cooper Vuna almost capitalised. The Brumbies failed to clear their lines effectively however, and following a series of reset scrums the recalled Danny Cipriani stroked over a penalty.
Any thoughts of the Rebels assuming the upper hand were quickly forgotten as a Matt Giteau penalty started a run of 20 unanswered points either side of half-time. The first three were reward for a promising attack but the try that pressure failed to deliver arrived shortly afterwards through Tyrone Smith. The Brumbies, patient throughout, kept the ball tight for a long period and as soon as they switched it wide, Smith drew the Rebels defensive line out of shape and darted around the onrushing tackler to curve into the corner.
The Brumbies, increasing in confidence following their early scores added a third try on the half-hour mark. After more dominant possession an attacking penalty seemed inevitable but from ten metres out in a central position the wily Giteau spotted the Rebels defence napping and sniped the remaining distance to the line before the Rebels had come to terms with the situation.
The 18-3 half-time scoreline could have been much worse for the Rebels but Giteau and Lealiifano conspired to miss all three conversions.
Not that that seemed to bother the home side as within two minutes of the restart Pat McCabe had run under the posts. Hooker, Stephen Moore, created the try and again, the Rebels will be disappointed with the ease in which the Wallaby cut through their defensive line.
The Brumbies controlled the next twenty minutes but failed to convert good field position, consistently opting for scrums over the penalty points on offer.
The home side was made to pay for its overconfidence after 64 minutes when the Rebels sparked back into life. Bursts from first Cooper Vuna, then Stirling Mortlock set up good field position, allowing Jarrod Saffy to claim the Rebels’ first try of the night. Cipriani’s conversion made it a fifteen point game with fifteen minutes remaining.
For the Rebels to have any chance of clawing their way back they needed their second score to come quickly – and it did. A blockbusting run from Mark Gerrard set a counter-attack on its way and when Cipriani’s cute inside ball teased Saffy through, a score seemed inevitable. The big flanker was brought down inches from the line but he had the presence of mind to feed Afusipa Taumoepeau who scored against his former team. Cipriani’s penalty took the Rebels to within eight points with ten minutes to go.
As thoughts turned to the Rebels’ stirring early-season fightbacks Stephen Moore snuffed out any remaining hopes with a pushover try against the run of play. Giteau’s conversion pushed the margin out to a safe distance and the Rebels were left to contemplate an eighth defeat on the trot.
An encouraging debut season for the Rebels ends next Friday night at AAMI Park with a clash against the Western Force.
RaboDirect Rebels
1. Rodney Blake, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Greg Somerville, 4. Alister Campbell 5. Kevin O’Neill, 6. Jarrod Saffy, 7. Michael Lipman, 8. Gareth Delve (vc), 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Danny Cipriani, 11. Cooper Vuna, 12. Stirling Mortlock (c), 13. Julian Huxley, 14. Richard Kingi, 15. Mark Gerrard
Reserves: 16. Adam Freier, 17. Laurie Weeks, 18. Adam Byrnes, 19. Tim Davidson, 20. Lachlan Mitchell, 21. Peter Betham, 22. Afusipa Taumoepeau
Head Coach: Rod Macqueen
Brumbies
1. Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 2. Stephen Moore, 3. Ben Alexander, 4. Ben Hand, 5. Peter Kimlin, 6. Henry Vanderglas, 7. Julian Salvi, 8. Mitchell Chapman, 9. Patrick Phibbs, 10. Matt Giteau (c), 11. Adam Ashley-Cooper,12. Pat McCabe, 13. Tyrone Smith, 14. Henry Speight, 15. Christian Lealiifano
Reserves: 16. Anthony Hegarty, 17. Jono Owen, 18. Sam Carter, 19. Tom Boidin, 20. Nic White, 21. Robbie Coleman, 22. Andrew Smith
Head Coach: Tony Rea
Referee: Glen Jackson
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