Brumbies pounce on fragile defence
Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:53
The Brumbies outscored the Cheetahs by four tries to two in Canberra to record a 29-23 win over the Free State franchise in their Super 14 encounter.
Poor defence cost the struggling Cheetahs dearly as they suffered yet another Super 14 loss, their sixth on the trot this year.
The Brumbies were in festive mood and celebrated their captain George Smith's 100th Super rugby match for the franchise. The Australian international flank took the field on his own, and lapped up the applause of the Canberra crowd on his milestone day.
The match got underway, and both teams jostled for field position, with Cheetahs loose forwards Duanne Vermeulen and Darron Nell catching the eye in the opening exchanges.
Flyhalf Conrad Barnard started the scoring in this match with a neatly taken penalty in the seventh minute.
But it took only five minutes for the pivot to undo that good work, as he missed a straight-up tackle on Brumbies lock Mark Chisholm, who raced a full 40 metres to score.
Missing one-on-one tackles has become something of an epidemic for the Free Staters, and they were badly exposed on Friday.
The stats also reflect the sorry tale. The Cheetahs have conceded 195 points thus far - 46 points more than the Bulls, who have the second-worst defence.
That is quite a margin, and it reflects just how porous the Cheetahs have been.
The sad fact is that their lack of commitment in the tackle is ruining all the positive aspects of their attacking play, since the Cheetahs have been almost as good on attack as they have been bad in defence.
Fullback Mark Gerrard converted Chisholm's score to make it 7-3 for the home side.
The Cheetahs were definitely up for this match, and all the signs were that coach Naka Drotské had been planning for this clash for at least two weeks, especially since he rested almost all his key players for the match against the Crusaders.
They duly got their noses back in front when Jongi Nokwe left his marker for dead, and jogged in to dot down after some neat hands in the backline set the flyer free on the touchline.
Barnard converted, and the Cheetahs were leading 10-7.
But the Brumbies were in no mood for charity, and sensed that the Cheetahs' backline were a soft touch when it came to the contact point. A few telling Brumby phases opened up the space for Peter Playford on the right wing, and he finished clinically for an unconverted try.
It was certainly game on, and both teams seemed to be keen to throw caution to the wind and attack the opposition.
Just before half-time, Barnard slotted his second penalty kick to take the Cheetahs into the break with a 13-12 lead.
Both Gerrard and Barnard came out cold in the second period, missing a penalty each as both teams were probing for momentum. Gerrard particularly was guilty of a very bad miss, as he pushed his kick wide, from practically right in front of the post.
But the fullback eventually got his radar back on track in the 52nd minute, and converted a penalty to put the Brumbies back in the lead.
And then the moment happened that damaged the Cheetahs' chances irreparably in this contest.
Referee Steve Walsh's interpretations at the breakdown had been quite hard to read at times, and that translated to frustration amongst the Cheetahs. Falie Oelschig allowed his irritation to boil over, and he sneered at referee Walsh. The official did not take kindly to that outburst, and produced the yellow card for Oelschig.
The effect was immediate and devastating for the Cheetahs. One could sense that Oelschig's chirp had contaminated his entire team, and they lost their cool. Suddenly their resistance crumbled, and they shipped 14 points in the space of four minutes, which effectively ended their chances of picking up their first win.
First it was Brumbies centre Tyrone Smith who ran straight and hard at the Cheetahs backs. He managed to slip no less than four tackles, and dived high in the air in celebratory fashion before scoring behind the posts. Gerrard couldn't miss, and made it 22-13 with 20 minutes left to play.
But the damage was not quite done yet on the lacklustre Cheetahs.
Flyhalf Conrad Barnard sealed a miserable day by kicking a decent Cheetahs ball straight into touch, much to his dismay, and that of his players. His attempted Gary Owen summed up the team's poor execution, and it was clear that the morale was draining from their ranks.
Barnard's mistake proved to be fatal, as the Brumbies once again managed to exploit the opportunity, and turn it into points. This time, flank Mitchell Chapman bustled over the Cheetahs try-line, and Gerrard converted once again.
The scoreboard read 29-13 with 15 minutes to play. Coach Naka Drotské once again had to digest a match in which the Cheetahs managed to mess up a decent half-time position, but there was still time to try and produce a minor miracle.
The coach hauled off his disappointing halfback pairing of Oelschig and Barnard, and replaced them with Tewis de Bruyn and Jacques-Louis Potgieter.
The pair did their best to breathe some life into their colleagues, and it paid off when a pumped-up De Bruyn broke through the fringe defence around a ruck to crash over in the 70th minute.
Potgieter converted and the Cheetahs were nine points adrift with ten minutes left.
The Brumbies now resorted to some time-wasting tactics, and the Cheetahs piled on the pressure. The visitors forced a few penalties, and eventually a scrum on the Brumbies' try-line. A good Cheetahs scrum set them up for a push-over try, but the Brumbies front row countered this by simply standing up and breaking their bind. Steve Walsh might have awarded a penalty try, but the Brumbies escaped.
Either way, time was running out and the Cheetahs would need more than a converted try to win the match. Captain Rory Duncan realised that there would not be enough time to restart the game and did the sensible thing by opting for the easy kick at goal, which would land them a losing bonus point.
Potgieter knocked the kick over, and the Cheetahs had to settle for their fifth losing bonus point of the season, and their sixth loss.
The Brumbies on the other hand secured five points from the game, and jumped up to sixth position on the standings.
Man of the match: The Brumbies backs knew that if they ran hard at the Cheetahs backline, the holes would open up. Brumbies centre Tyrone Smith did this all night long.
Moment of the match: Brumbies midfielder Tyrone Smith's bursting run through four Cheetah defenders, followed by his rainbow dive to score the try.
Villain of the match: This will have to go to the Cheetahs inside backs, and the defensive blunders that once again allowed too many soft tries in this match.
Scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Chisholm, Playford, T Smith, Chapman
Cons: Gerrard 3
Pens: Gerrard
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Nokwe, De Bruyn
Cons: Barnard, Potgieter
Pens: Barnard 2, Potgieter
Yellow card: Falie Oelschig (Cheetahs, 56 - Dissent)
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Peter Playford, 13 Sanualio Afeaki, 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Joshua Holmes, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith (captain), 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Peter Kimlin, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Huia Edmonds, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Guy Shepherdson, 18
Alister Campbell, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 22 Matt Toomua.
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Duanne Vermeulen, 7 Darron Nell, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan (captain), 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 Hendrik Meyer.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand), Daniel Cheever (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub
By Phil Coetzer
