The league-leading Brumbies crossed the Nullarbor to do battle with the Force on a sticky Friday evening in Perth. Would the Ponies continue their strong form? Or would the home team shock the visitors with the expansive style of rugby they have promised?
First Half
The first half saw the Brumbies come out of the blocks in typical fashion, dominating possession and they had their first points from a Lealiifano penalty before two minutes passed.
The Force were resolute in defence and perhaps the Brumbies were a little impatient when Pocock threw a rushed pass which Lealiifano couldn’t reel in, the line at his mercy.
The referee was finding plenty wrong with both teams’ ruck interpretations, with “holding on” and “tackler not releasing” among his more-favoured calls. He’d seen enough when Pek Cowan brought down a maul in the 14th minute and the Force loose head was in the bin. The Brumbies made the most of the man advantage when the next play saw Stephen Moore barging over as part of a well-worked short range maul.
Before the sin bin period was served Fardy ran a beautiful line off Cubelli and held up an offload beautifully for Toomua to dot down. Lealiifano added the extras, kicking all three tricky attempts at goal to make the score 17-0 with just over a quarter played.
From here the momentum shifted to the Force, The Brumbies half back Cubelli was penalised for kicking the ball away after a penalty in the red zone. Soon after Morahan finished a great switch move from Jono Lance after Haylett-Petty managed to shrug off Pocock in the lead up. The easy conversion was made by Jono Lance and the score was 7-17, six minutes before the break.
The half ended with more trading of ruck penalties, but the scorers weren’t troubled.
Second Half
The second half began with more possession dominance from the Brumbies, but as in the first, the Force defence was equal to the task. But it was finally broken when reserve lock Tom Staniforth put Sam Carter through, a move that was converted into points when Tomane took a one-off ball to tear through some back-pedalling blue shirts. The simple conversion was good and the Brumbies went 17 points clear 7-24.
The restart saw a clumsy tackle by Force winger Masirewa on a leaping Henry Speight result in the home team’s second yellow card.
But the Force was next to score when Tapuai finished the try of the match. The move started with a deft grubber from Force reserve flyhalf Peter Grant, which was fielded by Dane Haylett-Petty. He fed winger Morahan who cut back inside and passed to Tapuai, in a great position to go over untouched.
With the conversion successful, an unlikely comeback was possible because the Force were back within two scores, with twelve minutes to play.
The rest of the half oscillated between the sublime and the ridiculous, as both teams did their best to play expansively only to be foiled by great defence and poor handling in equal measure. The Force rallied well in broken play while the Brumbies’ scrum produced total dominance.
The final play of the game was a bizarre series of events which saw Pocock held up over the line, only for the ref to ask the TMO to look at an earlier effort by Mann-Rae. The try was awarded and Lealiifano kicked his fifth of five attempts.
Final score: Brumbies 31 – Force 14.
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The Game Changer
Tom Staniforth stripping the pill from the Force captain Matt Hodgson, right when the Force threatened to get back into the match late in the second half. This came soon after the Staniforth stole a five-metre lineout and seemed to extinguish the Western Australians’ last chance to win.
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The G&GR MOTM
Sam Carter, had a near flawless performance, great set piece and tight work; he played the full eighty and had a hand in Tomane’s try. Pocock and Moore are honourable mentions, both having great games but suffering from being held to a much higher standard perhaps.
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Wallaby watch
Dane Haylett-Petty was razor sharp for the force, shrugging off Pocock at one stage. Joe Tomane continues to look the form winger in Australia scoring a try and generally looking dangerous. Tom Staniforth put in a impressive cameo, stealing a key lineout towards the death of the match amongst other big plays.
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The Details
Crowd: 10,914
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]Western Force: 14
Tries: Luke Morahan 33′, Ben Tapuai 67′
Conversions: Jono Lance 34′, Peter Grant 67′
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[one_half last=”yes”]ACT Brumbies: 31
Tries: Stephen Moore 15′, Matt Toomua 22′, Joe Tomane 55′, Josh Mann-Rae 80′
Conversions: Christian Lealiifano 4/4
Penalties: Christian Lealiifano 3′ [/one_half]
Cards & citings
Pek Cowan (Force) – Yellow Card 14′
Tomas Cubelli (Brumbies) – Yellow Card 29′
Semisi Masirewa (Force) – Yellow Card 56′
Photo credit – All Photos by “Delphy” – Thank you
