The CA Brumbies have held on for a 24-22 victory against an unlucky Sharks team tonight in Canberra. The victory sees the Brumbies improve to 4-1 on the ladder whilst consigning the Durban based Sharks to their 5th loss in a row for season 2010.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7wFQd1VY8[/youtube]
In a game that saw no less than 6 lead changes, the South Africans showed they were keen to notch up their first victory of the season by bringing a physical forwards display to the Capital. For rest of review and 2nd half highlights
The Brumbies got off to a slow start and were starved of possession in the early exchanges and were lucky not to concede a try after having a kick charged down whilst trying to clear their line. The Sharks eventually got the scoring underway through a long range penalty goal to English import Andy Goode. He then landed another shortly after to push the lead out to 6-0.
This sparked the Brumbies into action and they were finally able to get some ball and were well directed around the field by the halves combination of Valentine and Giteau. The forwards were starting to lay a platform with some solid play leading to numerous phases to put the team on the front foot. Giteau responded with 2 penalty goals of his own to level at 6-6.
On the 30 minute mark Ben Alexander crashed over for the first of his two tries for the night after 11 phases in the lead up. Those who had him for first try scorer with the bookies would have been cheering at the juicy odds of $41- just ask Greg Martin.
Just before half time the Sharks hit back through a try to half back Ruan Pienaar which was converted by Goode to level at 13-13. He then stepped up on the stroke of half time to eventually kick another long range penalty to send his team to the sheds at 16-13 with a sniff of victory.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with the battle of the forwards continuing. The Sharks tried to vary their game by trying to unleash their backline without too much success.
A penalty kick for touch by Giteau looked to have come undone but a touch of good luck saw Sharks fullback Stefan Terblanche knock the ball back over his head dead in goal for a Brumbies scrum 5 metres out. From the resulting play Ben Alexander dived over for his second of the night to put the Brumbies back in the lead.
The rest of the half saw neither team able to land a killer blow and led to lead changes through 2 penalty goals to each side.
With the clock ticking down towards full time and only down by 2 points, the Sharks looked set to have a shot at winning the game through their strong forward play. Instead they chanced their arm by spreading the ball wide but unfortunately a handling error let the team down. This seemed a strange decision as they went away from what had been working well for them during the previous 79 minutes.
After the game Brumbies coach Andy Friend praised his front row that stood up to an all Springbok front row. He was also happy with the phase play the forwards put together on the back of good field position from Valentine and Giteau.
Captain Stephen Hoiles was happy with the win but wasn’t getting carried away as they know there is still room for improvement if they intend on playing in the finals. With the team playing a Kiwi team for the first timethis season next week, the team will be looking to work on improving in all areas to ensure their quest for the title rolls on.
Brumbies 24 – Alexander 2 tries, Giteau con, 4 pens
Sharks 22 –Pienaar try, Goode con, 5 pens
WALLABY WATCH
Put his hand up: Ben Alexander – 2 tries, what more could a prop want?
Did himself no favours: Mark Chisholm – At times MIA but did cop a kick to the head in the first half.
Bolter Watch: Christian Lealiifano – Made some nice breaks and is developing his combination with Giteau nicely.
A Canberra born and bred Rugby tragic brought up on a diet of Canberra Kookaburra and ACT Brumbies Rugby. It was a choice between politics and Rugby, with Rugby the winner. 
Yeah, what more could a prop want? Alexander gave an excellent account of himself right across the park. Generally the Brumbies forwards played well both from the set piece and in broken play and at the breakdown. GS also had a great match.
The efforts of the pack, however, weren’t matched by their backline. It was apparent that they wanted to maintain the tempo, keep the ball moving from hand to hand and score some tries. Well they ddin’t score any, but they had enough possession to do much more damage than they did.
There is a problem in the Brumbies backline. Valentine is a good little half – no issues there. Christian Lealiifano is a talented opportunistic player, but his breaks led to nothing because he doesn’t run connecting lines either before he makes them or after. Gits is taking the ball at pace but crabbing sideways at the same time. He doesn’t take it straight to the line and there are attack issues emanating from this.
The Brumbies attack through the backline looked disorganised. Stirlo has been a wonderful player and easily the most potently damaging centre over the decade in world rugby, but he is starting to show that he’s reached the zenith of his career and is on the downwards slide. Tyrone Smith made an immediate impact when he came on.
I would like to see Toomua at 1st five, Gits at inside centre and Smith at outside centre with Stirlo the impact player off the bench.
I agree with what you say except for Valentine. He was bullied at the breakdown and i feel at times he is not getting the ball to the backline quick enough.
This may have something to do with the lack of communication and confidence the backline is showing.
And with the Stormers taking care of the Hurricanes 37-13 in Cape Town, now thats a BIG favour for Australia.
Now the main Aussie trio (ACT + QLD + NSW) are all just outside the top 4 (5th 6th and 7th) and within the striking distance of the top 4!
However, the Brumbies will have to be much better than that to have a good chance of beating the Blues in Auckland next week……
I agree that the brumbie backline is not firing at all…there were some periods in the 1st half were the brumbies played the best football ive seen all year from any team, yet would lack runners and make mistaeks when the ball hit the back line.
I wonder what the try tally is between the backs and forwards…ill bet its close.
Sterlo looks injured and not making much impact at all, so does gits. I think youe got to give tooma a run at 5/8 gits at 12. not sure who shoul play 13, perhaps ACC and have leafano playing 15.
However the forwards look fantastic, and very positive for teh wallabies this year with front rowers all over putting their hands up.
BTW wouldnt it be great to see the brumbies loan Tooma to the force…..let the kid play some rugby, not going to get better sitting on the bench.
Every week we here the same old lines about how the Brumbies need to do better next week.
They are winning and again played against a team desperate for a win and with at least 8 Springboks. The Sharks may not be winning but they are the most unluckiest team not to.
Gits is not injured he is out of form.
Poor old mortlock has lost his punch. This game is the first time i have never seen him get over the advantage line and he had a few hard runs at the line. Time to put the old horse out to feed.
Maybe a few high kicks at training with the help of a Ausie rules marking coach wouldn’t hurt either
There are nervous times approaching for the Brumbies. Next week they have the Blues and the following week the Chiefs and then the bye.
It’s not really a question of whether they can beat the Blues and the Chiefs, it’s a question of whether they can come away from both those encounters with 5 points because then they have a week off. If they have no bonus money in the bank by then, the playoffs may well have slipped from their grasp.
The backline formula needs to change and unless Andy Friend has the bottle to make those changes it’s hard to see much of an improvement being made. Toomua 1st five, Gits inside centre and Tyrone outside centre. The problem is that there is now no space left to bed new combos in. So there are risks, but they are risks that need to be taken.
I hope it happens.
Let’s just put it this way:
Brumbies, now at 4-1 record, have the following games to come for the rest of the season:
Blues (Away) ?
Chiefs (Home) ?
Cheetahs (Home) Win
Canes (Home) ?
NSW (Away) ?
QLD (Home) Win
H’landers (Home) Win
Saders (Away) Loss
I’m almost certain the Brumbies will beat the Cheetahs, QLD and the Highlanders but the last game against the Saders in Christchurch is a loss.
If that is the case, the Brumbies’ tally will become 7-2 with 4 games to play (the ones in question marks).
Like I said before, the Brumbies MUST WIN AT LEAST 2 OF THOSE 4 GAMES IN QUESTION MARKS if they want to reach the semis coz normally 9-4 tally is the minimum requirement to make the top 4.
Good luck to the Brumbies in how to handle those 4 games in mystery
Still no injuries… Morty soundS good to go… the Brumbies backs will fire but I must say the Sharks rush defense cut them out of most of the match…
The Brumbies still no bonus point but are equal 4th with the Chiefs… hey need this coming weeks match against the Blues but more importantly need to ensure they take point s from the visiting canes and Chiefs to get the semi spot…
Giteau isn’t running the ball and its making the backs easy to defend against…
Depth is still in their advantage… Toomua had a great game win with the Brumbies runners today v NSW academy… Lealiifano is getting better every game. Pack is holding its ground with the best packs around…
No question about it the pack is holding its ground with the best packs around. Outside of that there’s not a lot of cohesion – and the lack of tries proves that.
Still good to get the win, but hardly the world beaters we were hoping for this year (yet).