The Brumbies have split their South African road trip with a 25-18 win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The Match
The small crowd has barely had time to sit down to open their beers and pies before the Brumbies thought they had scored the opening try after just 35 seconds but the TMO correctly ruled a forward pass to deny Tomas Cubelli.
But it would only take four minutes to finally score after David Pocock swooped on a no look pass and a few phases later, Ita Vaea strolled over on the left wing.
The Brumbies had a few more attacking chances in the opening ten minutes but could only add a penalty goal to Lealiifano to make it 10-0.
The Cheetahs won a few penalties in a row and looked to score their opening points but Scott Fardy was too good at the maul to stop it five metres out.
The Brumbies struggled to exit to allow the Cheetahs on the board with a penalty goal that sparked them into action and they scored a try not long after Sergeal Petersen found space from inside his 22 and Cassiem scored out wide to make it 10-8 with the momentum now with the home side.
The Brumbies settled their game on the back of a few penalties going their way and benefitted from a Cheetahs player in the bin and the man overlap proved too much as Aidan Toua scored after a Fardy party trick flick pass in the lead up.
Just before the break, the Cheetahs had another attacking chance with the Brumbies penalty count starting to rack up that saw Sam Carter given a 10 minute rest and he was a relieved man to see the Cheetahs knock on with the line beckoning to leave it at 15-8.
The Brumbies had a nervous start in the second half with Toua knocking on after a downpour at half time and then were penalised from the resulting scrum. They had a let off with Marais missing the long range shot at penalty goal then scored one of their own to make the margin 10.
A few chances went begging for both sides with Petersen going close for the Cheetahs before the Brumbies blew a chance near the Cheetahs line with the lineout stolen.
The party got started at The Dock when Ben Alexander dived over off a fortuitous pass from Allan Alaalatoa to give the Brumbies some breathing space at 25-8.
With the game entering the final 20 minutes, the Cheetahs enjoyed the better of the play but poor handling them down combined with the Brumbies discipline starting to become a problem.
As the game became a bit loose, the Cheetahs bagged one more converted try to Petersen and a penalty to Marais on the final siren to make the final score 25-18.
The Brumbies now head home with a big clash against the Chiefs next Saturday.
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The Game Changer
The second half from the Brumbies settled the game down and they didn’t look back after the Alexander try.
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The G&GR MOTM
David Pocock – Won a number of turnovers and even took an intercept.
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Wallaby Watch
Pocock and Fardy were monsters at ruck and maul time, despite Fardy giving away a number of penalties. Toomua and Lealiifano ran the backline well in the tricky conditions.
Joe Tomane was quiet but even had a stint at 6 and would have been happy to be part of winning a scrum free kick.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]BRUMBIES 25
Tries: Vaea, Toua, Alexander
Conversions: Lealiifano, Toomua
Penalties: Lealiifano 2
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[one_half last=”yes”]CHEETAHS 18
Tries: Cassiem, Petersen
Conversions: Marais
Penalties: Marais 2
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Cards
34 min – Nche (Cheetahs) – Yellow
40 min – Carter (Brumbies) – Yellow
Crowd
Minimal
