The Brumbies will head into the June International break on top of the Aussie conference after they belted a disappointing Sunwolves side 66-5 in Canberra.
The home side ran riot with ten tries to one to secure only their second try scoring bonus point of the season with the younger members of the squad impressing as the Brumbies scored their most points in a game since 2010.
The Match
The Brumbies enjoyed the better of the possession and territory in the opening ten minutes but had little to show for their wide attacking game plan.
It took a grubber from Robbie Coleman after 12 minutes to open up the Sunwolves defence and Tevita Kuridrani and Nigel Ah Wong had enough time to dicsuss amongst themselves who would pick it up. Eventually a few phases later, Scott Fardy found himself in space with a simple run to the line and Christian Lealiifano’s conversion from wide put made it 7-0.
The Brumbies were finding gaps in the Sunwolves line but were rushing passes that didn’t need to be as they dominated the possession and territory stats. Aidan Toua was having his best game of the year so far as he easily collected Sunwolves kicks and made some nice runs amongst the open spaces.
They spurned a shot at penalty goal from in front and went to their main strike weapon of the rolling maul and it was captain Stephen Moore with the second try of the night.
From there the floodgates opened. Michael Dowsett showed some good pace to find the line after some interplay with David Pocock after the Sunwolves tried to negate the rolling maul by not engaging. Lealiifano’s kicking was on target as he landed his third conversion to make it 21-0 after 24 minutes.
The Sunwolves finally got their hands on the ball in the Brumbies half but they couldn’t get anything going against a strong Brumbies defensive line.
The Brumbies had their fourth try of the half with Nigel Ah Wong running a great support line off a Lealiifano run from a scrum and ran untouched to the line to make it 28-0.
The Sunwolves worked their way back down field on the back of a few penalties and went close to opening their account but were held up over the line. A TMO check on the play saw Hitoshi Ono yellow carded for a reverse head butt on Rory Arnold as he tried to to disrupt the maul.
The second half started with more of the same from the Brumbies. Christian Lealiifano found acres of space amongst the defensive line and found Scott Fardy and eventually the ball ended up in the arms of Moore and found his way over for his second try of the night and was then subbed off, denying him a potential hat trick.
The Brumbies rang the changes off the bench as the majority of the Wallabies contingent left the field but it was more of the same as they ran in two tries in quick succession. The first went to Aidan Toua off a Nigel Ah Wong pass (with a sneaky drop kcik attept thrown in) and then Jordan Jackson-Hope opened his try scoring account finishing off from a Tevita Kuridrani run down the left wing.
The Sunwolves found themselves on attack but an intercept from James Dargaville saw him set sail to the line as the Brumbies cracked 50 points on the scoreboard.
The Sunwolves kept battling away and eventually had something to show for it as Akihito Yamada added to his try scoring feats in 2016 off a scrappy period of play.
There was more tries for the Brumbies with time running out as Lausii Taliauli finished off a quick hands move on the right wing with Jackson-Hope and Toua handling in the leadup.
With time up, the Brumbies launched one last raid into the Sunwolves territory after Ed Quirk and Joe Powell got involved in some handbags and Nigel Ah Wong capped off a top game as he scored his second try.
Lealiifano converted from wide out to end miserable night for the visitors as they ran out 66-5 winners.
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The Game Changer
The Sunwolves held out the Brumbies for the opening 12 minutes, then it was all over from there as the Brumbies ran in 3 tries in 11 minutes.
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The G&GR MOTM
Plenty to choose from as the Brumbies ran riot. Aidan Toua had his best game of the season and bagged a try and will give him a bit of confidence after an up and down season.
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Wallaby Watch
With the bonus point secured, Steve Larkham gave them an early night to keep them fresh for the upcoming Test series. Stephen Moore bagged a double and even pulled a chip kick that may never be seen again.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]BRUMBIES 66
Tries: Moore 2, Ah Wong 2, Fardy, Dowsett, Toua, Jackson-Hope, Dargaville, Taliauli
Conversions: Lealiifano 8
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[one_half last=”yes”]SUNWOLVES 5
Tries: Yamada
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Cards
40 min – Ono (Sunwolves) – Yellow
Crowd
10,479
Photos courtesy Tim Anger
