The Brumbies have come away with a scrappy 20-3 win over the Cheetahs in Canberra. The home side could have had more tries except for a lack of patience and execution, blowing at least three tries with a four try bonus point gone begging.
The Match
The Brumbies were off the mark early with an early try to Christian Lealiifano in just the fourth minute after he sliced through some very soft Cheetahs defense after a good hit up from Henry Speight in the lead up.
The Brumbies looked likely to score again just minutes later after barnstorming run from Scott Sio but a few phases later, the move broke down after a good tackle from Raymond Rhule on Robbie Coleman.
The Brumbies turned down shots at goal following a series of penalties inside the Cheetahs half and Matt Toomua thought he had scored the second Brumbies try of the night but was knocked back by the TMO.
The Cheetahs did well to hold out the Brumbies against a weight of possession and territory and got on the board from a Joe Pietersen penalty on 18 minutes. The visitors had targeted Brumbies winger Joe Tomane with the high ball on at least two occasions and gained field position that way.
That gave them some confidence and following two penalties deep in the Brumbies half, they attempted to use their rolling maul but the Brumbies held tight to deny them.
The battle at scrum time was intense with the Cheetahs able to hold out the strong Brumbies scrum.
Just before the break, the Brumbies went close to scoring with Henry Speight brought down right on the line after a run and grubber from Nic White. From the resulting scrum, the Brumbies earned a penalty that Lealiifano converted to give his side a 13-3 lead at the break, one that could have been more if some passes stuck and execution in key areas of the field was a little better.
The Brumbies opened the second half with the same intent through their forwards and new lock Blake Enever rolled over from close range to snare the second try of the night.
The game didn’t really reach any heights due to the amount of handling errors from the Brumbies and the visitors couldn’t get into the game and spent a lot of the game camped in their own half.
On one of the few chances they did have in the final 20 minutes, the ball was lost in contact to get the Brumbies off the hook and another chance saw the Brumbies disrupt the Cheetahs maul.
The Brumbies head to Auckland next week with an important fixture against the Blues.
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The Game Changer
No standouts but the Brumbies second try to Blake Enever put the game out of reach for the Cheetahs.
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The G&GR MOTM
Scott Sio Had a big game with some good runs and good scrummaging.
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Wallaby Watch
Scott Sio was loving his freedom with his running game with a number of runs causing havoc for the defense.
Scott Fardy got in and rolled up the sleeves at the breakdown – even pulled out a grubber kick.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
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BRUMBIES 20
Tries: Lealiifano, Enever
Conversions: Lealiifano 2
Penalties: Lealiifano 2
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CHEETAHS 3
Penalties: Pietersen
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Cards
Nil
Crowd: 10,854
Photos by Ben Morris
