The Brumbies have dominated the Lions and come away from Johhanesburg with a 34-20 win in a six try to two display. The Brumbies continued their attacking display from last week against some poor Lions play both tactically and defensively.
The opening exchanges saw both teams ease themseleves into the game with a tactical kicking battle that the Lions got the edge as the visitors struggled with the rarified conditions at the Coke tin.
Lions fly half Elton Jantjies got the home side on the board with an early penalty after a break from winger Deon van Rensburg gave the home side good field position.
The Brumbies finally ventured into the Lions 22 and a break from Mogg was lunlucky not to be converted as winger Joe Tomane knocked on. However, they weren’t to be denied when prop Ruaidhri (Rory to his mates) Murphy burrowed over from close range after Henry Speight put them in a great position down the right wing.
Jantjies then kicked another penalty from the half way line and then Christian Lealiifano had a chance to reply, but his kicking woes from last week continued as he missed his second of the night. And another chance went begging when Jesse Mogg took a penalty shot that was also wide of the mark.
The game was very stop start but the Brumbies were able to add to the score again after another backline move involving Lealiifano and Jesse Mogg saw Henry Speight dive over for the Brumbies second try of the night in the 25th minute. Another missed kick at this point meant four kicks at goal worth 10 points had been missed and the score closer than it should have been.
Christian Lealiifano’s woes continued after he failed to ground the ball over the line when rolling over to score what should have been the visitors third try of the night.
But he soon made up for that with a great inside ball to winger Joe Tomane inside the Lions 22 led to a try for Andrew Smith as he reached out to score the third Brumbies try of the half. Jesse Mogg finally nailed a conversion to put the Brumbies lead out to 11 points.
The game was starting to open up as the Brumbies continued to make line breaks but the Lions were showing they could also run the ball when they weren’t constantly kicking it back to the Brumbies.
The score remained at 17-6 to the Brumbies as they headed for oranges.
The second half began with more of the same spinal alignment work from Fotu Auelua which was felt far and wide with some thunderous hits which helped him gain man of the match honours.
The Lions were victims of needless turnovers and were punished again after a break from Jantjies out of his own 22. The ball was spun wide and a grubber kick from Pat McCabe was fluffed by the Lions and Joe Tomane swooped to score.
Almost directly from the kick off the Brumbies were in again after Michael Hooper sliced through and the ball ended up in Ben Alexander’s hands for the Brumbies fifth try of the night. Lealiifano must have changed his kicking boots at half time as he finally landed the conversion from wide out for a 29-6 lead.
Both teams brought on a number of changes 10 minutes into the second half and the Lions should have scored their first try of the night when van Rensburg intercepted inside his own 22 but an outstanding chase from three Brumbies players saw them come up short with the Brumbies superior fitness work the obvious difference on this occasion.
The Lions were made to pay for that lapse and the Brumbies scored their sixth try and Henry Speights second of the night after he danced his way through some poor Lions defense on the left wing.
The Lions were almost on the board but a no arms special from Butch James with all shoulder after the Lions had received a penalty saw him spend ten minutes in the bin and a white card to go with it.
However, they were finally able to score a try under the posts to centre Jaco Taute as the Lions finally began to play some rugby but it was too little too late.
The game didn’t reach any great heights in the last 15 minutes as both teams cleared the benches. The Lions managed to add another try right at the death to put some respectability in the final score.
The Brumbies come away from the Republic with 7 competition points from their 2 matches. The return of 11 tries and conceding just four over those two matches will give this side much confidence before they return home to play the Waratahs next week in Canberra still top of the Australian conference, but they will need to work on their goalkicking with 14 points left on the field today and against better opposition could prove costly.
Brumbies 34 – Murphy, Speight 2, Smith, Tomane, Alexander tries; Mogg, Lealiifano con def Lions 20 – Taute, Oosthuizen tries, Jantjies 2 cons, 2 Pens.
