The Brumbies went to Singapore in the quest of adding to the World Club 10’s trophy to their World Club 7’s title from last last year.
The Brumbies finished the pool play phase undefeated with 3 wins on day one. The Brumbies got off to a sluggish start against the Italian side Petrarca with a 12-0 win and followed that up with a 22-17 win over the Tana Umaga coached Asia Pacific Dragons.
The final game of day one saw them up come against the Cardiff Blues and they took the win 21-12 to finish top of Pool B.
Day 1 results:
Brumbies 12 A. Smith, R. SMith Tries; Iona con def Petrarca 0
Brumbies 22 Coleman 2, Mogg 2 tries; Iona con def Dragons 17
Brumbies 21 Mogg, Cronje, Whetton tries; Iona 2 cons, Cronje con def Cardiff Blues 12
Ruan Smith reaches out to score against Petrarca
Day Two
Cup Quarter Final
The Brumbies started their campaign on day two taking on Biarritz Olympique from France in the Cup Quarter Final. It didn’t take long for them to get on the board with Nigel Ah Wong scoring with 1 minute gone after turning the defence inside out as he travelled 60 metres to score virtually untouched under the posts.
That started a procession of points for the Brumbies in the first half with Rodney Iona (twice) and Michael Dowsett crossing – Dowsett’s from a magical flick pass from Lachie McCaffrey in their own half – to put the experimental Biarritz side out of the game at 28-0 at the break.
The second half started slowly but a chip kick and regather from captain Robbie Coleman had Biarritz on the backfoot, and a quick tap from a penalty on their own line saw Jack Whetton stroll over from five metres out.
Biarritz had a chance to break their duck but poor handling and the inexperience of the side showed and they were left watch the Brumbies add 2 more converted tries in the last four minutes of the half despite being reduced to nine men.
Jesse Mogg collected a kick through from Dowsett to score the sixth try of the match but the best was yet to come with Ruan Smith showing all the skills that would have made coach Steve Larkham proud as he made a break and backed up to juggle the ball and dive over to make the final score 47-0.
Brumbies 47 – Ah Wong, Iona 2, Dowsett, Whetton, Mogg, R Smith tries; Iona 6 cons def Biarritz 0
Nigel Ah Wong cutting through the defence to score
Cup Semi Final
The Brumbies took on the Cardiff Blues for the second time in the competition after facing them in pool play on day one.
The Blues started well with the ball and looked dangerous until a pass went over the sideline. The Brumbies went close to scoring with their first use of the ball with Jesse Mogg collecting a grubber kick from Nigel Ah Wong but was pulled down short of the line.
After a penalty they spread the ball wide and Jesse Mogg’s grubber rebounded off a Cardiff defender and he opened the scoring with his fifth try of the weekend.
The Brumbies started to dominate proceedings with Cardiff trying to play the ball deep out of their own half and even behind their own tryline at times. Just before the break, Nigel Ah Wong showed some great strength to place the ball over the line even with two Cardiff defenders to contend with to make it 10-0.
The Brumbies looked likely to score next with play kept in the Cardiff half but some good defence from the Welsh side kept them out.
The eventually worked their way to the Brumbies end of the field and a slick backline move had them on the board with a try to Dan Fish in the right corner.
The Blues should have equalised or even taken the lead late in the half but a dropped ball in the Brumbies 22 was punished as Lachlan McCaffrey secured the 17-5 win with a late try although the Blues did try to add some respectability to the score with a late surge.
Brumbies 17 Mogg, Ah Wong, McCaffrey tries; Iona con def Cardiff 5 Fish Try
Final
The Brumbies took on their Super 15 rivals Auckland in the final after the Blues defeated the Dragons 8-5 with a last minute penalty goal. Both teams finished top of their pool and was a repeat of the World Club 7’s final at Twickenham last year.
Neither team were prepared to give an inch in the early stages and it took a line break from Rodney Iona to open the game up inside the Blues 22. A couple of phases later Conrad Hoffmann dived over to open the scoring.
No further score could be added for the remainder of the half although the Brumbies were probably just on top with the better of the field position. They did survive a scare with the Blues knocking on in an attempt to intercept a pass that would have seen them score under the posts.
The Blues opened the scoring in the second half after a lineout error from the Brumbies right on their own line was collected by the Blues and Tom McCartney went over from close range to level the scores with the Blues starting to get on top at this point.
No further scored could be added despite an action packed rest of the half and the final would be headed to extra time.
The first extra time period couldn’t find a winner with the Blues having the better of the game with the players starting to tire. The Brumbies did have one last chance towards the end of the half but a knock on from Hoffmann ended that chance.
The second period of extra time didn’t last long with the Blues turning over the ball right in front of the Brumbies posts after a huge tackle right from the restart. After a penalty and a quick tap, Jackson Willison got through the Brumbies defence right next to the posts to score the winner for the Blues.
Blues 10 McCartney, Willison tries def Brumbies 5 Hoffmann try
