The Brumbies unbeaten start to the season has ended after going down to the Stormers 31-11 in Cape Town. The Brumbies didn’t help themselves with ill discipline including a red card to Josh Mann-Rea not helping their cause.
The Match
The Brumbies had a set back before kick off with Jarrad Butler ruled out and was replaced by Jordan Smiler.
It was a frantic opening five minutes with both sides prepared to run the ball from anywhere before the Stormers opened the scoring with a Kurt Coleman penalty.
The Brumbies had their chances to hit back making metres down the right edge but a lack of execution and some good Stormers defence held them out.
The Stormers were mixing up their attacking options with some big runs and kicks to the Brumbies back three with Aidan Toua getting plenty of work, before adding a second Coleman penalty after 15 minutes.
The ball handling from both sides wasn’t great in the conditions which saw plenty of scrums that were hotly contested.
David Pocock won an important penalty on 30 minutes and from the resulting lineout 40 metres out, Tevita Kuridrani found a gap in the Stormers midfield before hitting Henry Speight with a great pass to send him over in the right corner. Lealiifano was unable to convert to leave it 6-5 to the home side.
Just before half time, the Stormers added another penalty after Joe Tomane was penalised for an open hand to the face of a Stormers player that the commentators suggested could have received a yellow card.
Christian Lealiifano had a chance to make it a one point game, but he pulled his shot just left of the posts to leave it a 9-5.
The Brumbies scrum earned a penalty to start off the second half that Lealiifano converted to reduce the gap to one point and then both starting props were replaced.
The Stormers resorted to field kicking game for field position before their opening try to Siya Kolisi after some good handling from the Stormers forwards in the lead up.
But right from the restart, Cheslin Kolbe got himself in a mess and knocked on giving the Brumbies a 5 metre scrum. They weren’t able to get a five pointer but settled for three to keep them in reach of the Stormers.
But it all changed after that for the Brumbies. On 64 minutes, they went down to 14 men after Josh Mann-Rea was red carded for punching after he just came on that took a bit of time to sort out via the TMO.
With five minutes to go the Stormers got a very favourable call from the TMO in awarding a try to Dillyn Lleyds when he lost the ball over the line to seal the game.
The Stormers added a try after the siren to Vicnet Koch to run out 20 point winners.
The Brumbies have called for Ita Vaea to join the squad as they head to Bloemfontein next week with Butler ruled out for six weeks with a knee injury.
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The Game Changer
The Red card to Josh Mann-Rea halted any chance of a Brumbies comeback.
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The G&GR MOTM
Kurt Coleman – His goakicking and general kicking was very important to the Stormers win.
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Wallaby Watch
A tough night for the Brumbies. Kuridrani and Tomane made some good runs. Sam Carter was also heavily involved around the breakdown.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]BRUMBIES 11
Tries: Speight
Conversions:
Penalties: Lealiifano 2
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[one_half last=”yes”]STORMERS 31
Tries: Kolisi, Lleyds, Koch
Conversions: Coleman, du Plessis
Penalties: Coleman 4
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Cards
64 mins – Josh Mann-Rea (Brumbies) – Red
