The ACT Brumbies have defeated the Western Force 24-15 at ME Bank Stadium in Perth tonight. Both teams were struck down with injuries in the lead up to the match, with Rocky Elsom ruled out on game day for the Brumbies after a recurrence of his hamstring injury along with Mark Bartholomeusz and Cameron Shepherd for the Force.
The Force shuffled their backline with Sam Harris coming into flyhalf , but his inexperience was evident at times and it’s safe to say it wasn’t one his best games with numerous kicks out on the full. Some were questioning why James O’Connor did not slot in to give the backline some stability. In a game riddled with handling errors and turnovers by both teams at crucial parts of the match, there were a few highlights. The Brumbies scored 3 well worked tries, all of which were long range efforts that involved members of the front row in the lead up.
Stirling Mortlock was the first player to reach 1000 Super Rugby points after slotting the second conversion of the night. James O’Connor kept the Force in touch with the Brumbies with some accurate kicking at goal as well as general field kicking to get his team some good field position.
The Brumbies got the scoring underway in the 10th minute with a try to Josh Valentine after good lead up work by Ben Alexander. The Force responded shortly after with a penalty goal by O’Connor. In the 19th minute a great move involving Valentine and Stephen Moore just on the Brumbies side of halfway saw Moore put Adam Ashley-Cooper through a gap and Moore backed up to accept the pass from Ashley-Cooper to go over the second try of the night.
The next 10 minutes saw the Force dominate at times through the forwards and tried to keep the pressure off their inexperienced backline by keeping the ball in close and racking up the phases. Referee Steve Walsh was policing the ruck and giving a penalty for infringements on tackled players under the new interpretations. He also paid close attention to the Brumbies scrum, which was still a problem by getting out muscled at times, and this lead to 3 more penalty goals in the half to O’Connor and the score at half time was 14-12 to the Brumbies.
The second half did not have the intensity of the first half as most players were struggling with ball handling in the humid conditions. The Brumbies started with a penalty goal to Mortlock to extend the lead to 17-12. He then missed another attempt badly to keep the Force within striking distance. The Force defended very well in the second half considering their lack of possession. At one stage after 10 phases and basically no gain in ground, the Brumbies could only kick into touch such was the defense by the Force. The Force even had an attempted Penalty goal by Brett Sheehan from 54m but was waved away.
The Brumbies dominated possession and were led around the field by Matt Tooomua and Christian Lealiifano, who at times looked like a seasoned veterans. They did not do anything flashy but got the Brumbies on the front foot when needed. The only problem with the Brumbies was they had little reward with the ball. They did score their third try through Huia Edmonds in the 71st minute but they also turned the ball over on attack in the Force 22 and only scrambling defense denied the Force a deserved try.
The Brumbies will take the 4 points with Andy Friend still concerned about the scrum but happy the lineout worked better with Justin Harrison leading the way. The Force were unlucky to miss out on 1 point after their efforts, which coach John Mitchell was happy about considering the disruption in the lead up and the lack of possession.
