A long night at the office. Sekope Kepu reflects on a dominant Brumbies display – Photo: Carl Peterson

by Paul Cook –

The Brumbies have shown that they are the team to beat in this year’s Australian conference with a comprehensive 35-6 victory over the Waratahs at Canberra Stadium last night – but it came with a heavy price. Star recruit David Pocock left the field in the opening quarter with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which looks set to sideline the Wallaby flanker for six months. Not only a bitter blow for the Brumbies then, but also for a watching Robbie Deans as he firms up his options for the British & Irish Lions in June.

The match itself was perhaps best encapsulated by the closing plays of each half. With the siren having gone after the first 40 minutes, the Waratahs – outclassed, outthought and outfought in the opening stanza – were gifted their best attacking position thus far. 15 metres in front of the posts and with the Brumbies a man down thanks to Sam Carter’s sin bin, the call from one of the waterboys – presumably with the voices of the coaching staff in his ears – was to pack a scrum and go for the 7pts.

However, skipper Dave Dennis pointed to the posts, Brendan McKibbin despatched the kick and the players went to the sheds content with a 15pt deficit. Contrast that with the decision made by the irrepressible Jesse Mogg in the 78th minute. Having diffused one last Waratahs attempt at a consolation try and with his team 23pts ahead, he could have just cleared to touch from his own 22 and shut down the result, but he chose to run.

And run he did, up to halfway and past at least four tiring blue shirts, before releasing Robbie Coleman to chip over Ben Volavola with aplomb, regather and cement the Brumbies first four try bonus point win since 2007.

Ben Volavola simply didn’t see enough ball on his run-on debut – Photo: Carl Peterson

The pragmatists may concur that a gift 3pts for the Tahs at that stage in the game made sense and certainly, the Brumbies had nothing to lose when Mogg ran amok but in the early stages of a season where the Waratahs are telling all and sundry that they are going to back themselves and have a go, the decision seemed to send out a mixed message. The resurgent Brumbies had belief, the work-in-progress Waratahs didn’t – yet.

That was coach Michael Cheika’s positive take on an undeniably lacklustre display from his side. “We’ve got to accept full responsibility for every performance,” he conceded “but we’ve got to look at the bigger picture. Anyone who’s looking for a short term fix is in the wrong game, it’s about hard work, commitment, belief and that’s when you get a successful team. We’ve got a long way to go to get that.”

Coleman’s try was a fitting finale to a comprehensive performance from the home side. They beat the Tahs in almost every department – scrum, restarts, breakdown and line out – and on this form, they will take some stopping. Coach Jake White was cautiously impressed. “It’s one of the most complete performances we’ve had as a group but we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. At the same time…there’s no reason why we can’t do that to anyone else.”

The Waratahs continued their run of poor first halves in 2013, the difference this time out was that they failed to improve after the break but the damage had already been done. The Brumbies set their stall out early with clean restarts, good ball retention and continuity testing the Waratahs fringes and they got their reward, the visitors down 9-0 through three Christian Lealiifano penalties after only 8 minutes and having barely touched the ball. When the influential Tatafu Polota-Nau went off with hamstring trouble five minutes later, Waratahs fans could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be one of those nights.

However, the subsequent disappearance of David Pocock down the tunnel evened the ledger somewhat until the ground rose as one to welcome his replacement, one George Smith, to the fray. The prodigal son had returned and he soon showed that he’s lost none of his pilfering skills during his time in France and Japan.

Pat McCutcheon’s return after long term injury was a rare positive for the boys in blue – Photo: Carl Peterson

The Brumbies were winning the battle of the breakdown, throwing more bodies and greater urgency at the contact area to control possession and cruelling any attempts from their opponents to create any momentum. The Tahs were struggling to get over the gain line with the Brumbies rush defence choking them and when they did go wide, they did so with little conviction and the final pass was often predictable or poorly executed.

They only had a Brendan McKibbin penalty to show for their efforts after the first quarter and when a kick in behind was fielded awkwardly by Volavola in the 25th minute, the Brumbies pounced and forced the error. They kicked to touch and captain Ben Mowen was driven over from 5 metres with barely a hint of resistance. Eight minutes later, they were in again when Mogg placed a deft little kick in behind Folau’s flank and Lealiifano scooped up to dive over.

The second half saw much of the same with the Brumbies again on top at the tackle contest but it took them until the 72nd minute to profit, Henry Speight given a clear run to the corner after some nice work from George Smith in at first receiver, changed the point of attack and left the Tahs defence outnumbered.

The visitors did force penalties in key attacking positions but a combination of poor decision making and execution cost them any reward, gifting Jake White the chance for a final rebuke. “Obviously, when we play a good side with a good set-piece, we’re not going to get away with giving penalties away. Good sides will convert that into points.” Ouch.

Brumbies 35 (Ben Mowen, Christian Lealiifano, Henry Speight, Jesse Mogg tries; Christian Lealiifano 2, Ian Prior cons, Christian Lealiifano 3 pens) Waratahs 6 (Brendan McKibbin 2 pens) – Crowd 20,027