The Brumbies have gone down 25-24 to the Stormers in Cape Town. They should have won the game but a Christian Lealiifano conversion attempt late in the second half hit the post from nearly in front, proving the difference in the end.
The Brumbies did not help themselves with a whopping 19 penalties conceded with the game full of niggle throughout leading to five penalty goals from the boot of Demetri Catrakilis.
The Match
It took just two minutes for the Brumbies to get on the board following a scrum penalty in the Stormers 22 with Christian Lealiifano converting a penalty goal.
But the lead was short lived, with the Stormers able to hit back just minutes later to a Demitri Catrakilis penalty goal after the Brumbies failed to secure the restart and the Stormers taking advantage of a tight head and quick tap from an earlier penalty.
Before the first ten minutes were up, Lealiifano had the second Brumbies penalty goal of the half with referee Stuart Berry laying down his expectations after an exchange of handbags.
The Stormers scrum was showing some early dominance but their good work came undone when de Allende tried some sort of kick on halfway that went horribly wrong and Joe Tomane scooped it up and ran untouched to the line for the opening try.
That gave the Brumbies some confidence as they started to get some go forward, particularly from Ita Vaea and Joe Tomane who made some good runs and were getting heavily involved. They almost had a second try but the pass from Robbie Coleman to Tomane was ruled forward that looked marginal at best.
With scoring opportunities at a premium, the Brumbies had two more good chances to extend their lead but were just off the boil at the breakdown with the Stormers duo of Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen earning relieving penalties for their side.
On 30 minutes, Jesse Mogg landed a long range penalty from 52 metres to extend the Brumbies lead to 13 points as more niggle entered the game following a fairly soft penalty to the Stormers for alleged interference after a kick but they couldn’t take advantage with poor handling becoming a theme for them throughout the half.
Just before the half time break, Catrakilis got his second penalty after the Stormers scrum put the cleaners through the Brumbies on their feed. And then after the half time siren, he added another to make the gap seven points at the break.
The Stormers were first to score in the second half with another penalty goal after an error from Mogg kicking out from the 22.
They had all the ball for the opening ten minutes with the Brumbies falling foul of Stuart Berry (and the commentators) giving them easy metres off the back of penalties allowing Catrakilis’ fifth penalty to reduce the gap to just one point.
The task got even harder when replacement Jordan Smiler was given a yellow card for a dangerous clean out on Schalk Burger with all the momentum with the Stormers.
The pressure was finally too much for the Brumbies to sustain and after a series of scrums five metres out, Burger dived over from close range to put his side in front with the game entering the final 20 minutes.
Lealiifano closed the gap to three with another penalty from virtually in front from a rare trip into the Stormers 22 but Catrakilis restored the margin with a 40 metre drop goal that just snuck over the crossbar moments later.
The Brumbies weren’t deterred and found some gaps in the Stormers defensive line and after a chip and chase from Mogg, the Stormers could only find touch five metres out and from the resulting lineout, David Pocock dived over. Lealiifano had a chance to take the lead but his conversion attempt hit the post from left of the posts to leave it at 25-24 to the Stormers with ten minutes remaining.
The Brumbies tried to mount one final charge but the Stormers hung on for the win but the Brumbies gain a valuable point as they head to Johannesburg to take on the Lions.
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The Game Changer
The second half. The Brumbies discipline let them down and negated their early advantage despite a late fightback, they were unable to get the crucial win.
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The G&GR MOTM
Schalk Burger Was a monster around the rucks and had some strong runs to get his side out of trouble .
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Wallaby Watch
Joe Tomane had one try and was heavily involved around the park in the first half.
David Pocock was targeted at the breakdown by the Stormers and kept reasonably quiet.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]STORMERS 25
Tries: Burger
Conversions: Catrakilis
Penalties: Catrakilis 5
Drop Goal: Catrakilis
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[one_half last=”yes”]BRUMBIES 24
Tries: Tomane, Pocock
Conversions: Lealiifano
Penalties: Lealiifano 3, Mogg
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Cards
55 mins – Smiler (Brumbies) Yellow
