I don’t know about you, but to me all this chopping and changing by the Brumbies’ halves was a little too smart by half.
So we had 10 to 15, 15 to 12 and 12 to 10….or was it 15 to 10 and 12 to stay where he was? Buggered if I know. I guess Bernie picked up this daft idea from Eddie Jones. It was called ‘Total Rugby’ in those days and I don’t think it worked then either.
I wonder which one of them was supposed to pick up David Smith, as he powered off Willie Ripia’s shoulder for the match sealer. I’m not confident any of them would actually know that.
This was a real old arm wrestle all day but the Force finally managed to tough it out and win a local derby at last, by 27–19. It wasn’t pretty but it was pretty effective. There were mistakes aplenty but the two sides at least gave the ball a bit of width from time to time.
Actually, the possession stats ended up 50/50 but where the Brumbies lost momentum was in turnovers, losing 26 to the Force’s 12. The Force were ill-disciplined at times, conceding double the Brumby penalty count (12 to 6), but their lineout had the edge. Nobody really gained any dominance in the scrums.
The Brumbies had the better of the first half and led 10–7 at the break, but the Force slowly ground their way back to finally take the lead in the 68th minute with the Smith sealer coming close to the death. The Force forwards took control of the breakdown at the back end of the match.
The tower atop Black Mountain was the vision splendid as the game kicked off in sunny but cool conditions. The first 20 minutes was a good old-fashioned forward battle highlighted by a great Matt Giteau offload that had Ita Vaea thundering down the touchline, seemingly unstoppable.
Nobody told the Honey Badger, though. This monotypic mustelid powered into Vaea and drove him over the sideline. Trysaver! Honey Badger 1 King Cobra 0.
And before we get too excited about Ita, in a feat only matched by fellow Brumby Salesi Ma’afu last year the No. 8 made a grand total of three tackles in his 47 minutes. OK! Damn lies and statistics, aye?
The first try of the match was a beauty by Gits. Christian Lealiifano broke the line by stepping Willie R. and after a good sprint threw a lovely inside pass to a supporting Giteau who scampered over the line. Next up, it was Lealiifano again but this time he broke Black Mountain by throwing a loose pass on attack in the Force’s red zone. Rory Sidey speculated ahead and gave chase. A roaring JO’C whizzed up in support and Man U’d it to five out. Run Rabbit run. JO’C picked up the pill and fell over the goal line. Lealiifano had some evil and unChristian–like thoughts during this chase but had the good sense to not concede a penalty try as he finished a close second.
Next try was David Smith’s first for the Force. Early in the second half Chis made a run out of his 22 but passed the ball to nobody. The Honey Badger picked it up and headed to the tryline. From the ensuing ruck, the ball shot out to Willie R. who threw a cut-out to JO’C. He straightened and sent Smith in, although the latter had to do a bit of work to score.
The last Force try made it a brace for Smith. A Brumbies lineout five metres out went sour and the Force were awarded a scrum. Smith ran off Willie R.’s shoulder and went straight through untouched. Bootwise, JO’C kicked 2 from 4, Ripia 1 from 1 and Gits 4 from 4.
For the Force, Sharpie was at his best in his 140th Super Rugby game. He intimidated the Brumbies’ newbie hookers Anthony Hegarty (a junior Haas if I’ve ever seen one) and Elvis Levi, who was all shook up.
Sharpie trucked up the ball all day. Ben McCalman was also prominent and Richard Brown topped the tackle count with 17. Willie R. mixed his game up with his ball distribution and kicking skills apparent. JO’C at inside centre came into the play more after the initial 20 minute forward conflagration ended and Pat Dellit at fullback looked sound.
For the Brumbies, Chis was their hardest working player with 14 runs. Noodles Kimlin wasn’t too far behind and Michael Hooper always had his nose hard up against the ball. I liked the look of Gits at fullback. It offered him some space to weave his magic and his class was always on show. Lealiifano also did some good work despite the odd blip.
The Force will be mightily relieved to notch a win and will be revving up for some rough and tumble against a vulnerable Bulls team. The bye comes at a good time for the Brumbies ,considering their walking wounded.
Western Force 27 (David Smith 2, James O’Connor tries; O’Connor 2, William Ripia cons; O’Connor 2 pens) defeated Brumbies 19 (Matt Giteau try, con, 4 pens).
Wallaby Watch:
Put his hand up: You just can’t go past old man Sharpie for the effort he puts in each week. Still Australia’s premier lock.
Did himself no favours: There have been some touting Brumbies prop Dan Palmer for higher honours but that potential certainly wasn’t in view today.
Bolter watch: Michael Hooper did some hard graft in defence and at the breakdown. He’s another promising young Brumby flanker – it’s like a factory down there.
