Brumbies sunk by rampant Chiefs
Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:39
The Chiefs continued their red-hot form with a sparkling display to defeat the Brumbies 42-28 in their Super 14 clash in Canberra.
Both teams looked to get on the attack throughout a thoroughly entertaining and enterprising match, and the Canberra crowd witnessed no less than ten tries, six of them scored by the visitors.
What a throwback this game was!
It was like a trip back to the days of the Super 12, when attack was king, before the discipline of rigorous defensive patterns and video analysis. Those days, teams were very often focused on simply outscoring each other, very much unlike today's attritional rugby where defence is so vital.
Ten tries in all were scored in Canberra Stadium, and all of them converted. In fact, there was not a single missed kick in this match, and curiously not one penalty attempt at goal. This match was meant for aficionados of the seven-times table.
The Chiefs have been poor away from home this season, but they closed the book on that label with a great showing against the under-par Brumbies.
Once again the New Zealanders showed just how dangerous they can be with the ball in hand, and, boy, do they love counter-attacking from broken play.
The Chiefs effectively won the match courtesy of two devastating short bursts in the first half.
The first one saw them score 14 points in five minutes, courtesy of converted tries from the magical Sitiveni Sivivatu, and centre Callum Bruce. The second burst yielded the same harvest of 14 points, and this time it was the Stephen Donald show, as the veteran pivot scored two tries and converted them for good measure.
There was no way back from that hemorrhage for the Brumbies.
It started in the eighth minute. The Chiefs were exerting pressure near the Brumbies try-line. Sivivatu came off his wing looking for the ball. He got it from the ruck, and summed up the flat Brumbies defensive line in a flash. A simple stab kick through the line put him in the clear for the simplest of tries, with no cover defence in sight. Donald converted for a 7-0 lead.
Four minutes later, it was that man Sivivatu who unravelled the home defence again. The All Black wing spotted a massive hole in the Brumbies' 10-12 channel, and happily accepted the invitation to accelerate through the gaping space without a finger laid on him. Sivivatu then simply drew fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper, and popped a pass to Callum Bruce who finished next to the uprights. Another Donald conversion made it 14-0 for the visitors.
This caused the Brumbies to wake up finally, and they hit right back when George Smith waltzed through a Kevin O'Neill tackle, and stepped Tanerau Latimer with ease, before offloading to his brother Tyrone. The younger brother Smith crashed over to open the Brumbies' account, and captain Stirling Mortlock, returning from a long injury lay-off to play his 100th game for the Brumbies, converted.
But the Chiefs had already smelled blood, and their backs continued to pose questions that the Brumbies could not answer.
Stephen Donald signalled his return to form by completing the rest of the scoring in the half. First he stripped Tyrone Smith of the ball with consummate ease on 25 minutes, and raced 60 metres to score and convert. And eight minutes later, the flyhalf was on hand to finish off a neat move, and add the conversion, to leave the Brumbies trailing 7-28 at the break.
Facing a massive 21 point deficit at home, it was always going to be hard for the Brumbies to get back into this game.
But it got even worse for them before it got better, when replacement wing Viliame Waqaseduadua, who came on in the first half for the hamstrung Mils Muliaina, mimicked Donald's first half effort by stripping Josh Holmes of the ball in the tackle. Once again there was no Brumby in sight on the cover defence, and Waqaseduadua strolled in for the five-pointer. Donald did the honours to make the game totally safe at 35-7.
The Canberra outfit did make some sort of effort at clawing back the contest, and scored two quick tries of their own in the space of three minutes as the Chiefs eased their foot off the pedal.
First, replacement scrumhalf Josh Holmes went over for a converted try, before wing Peter Playford did the same to boost the Brumbies back to 21-35.
The Chiefs might have felt a little uneasy after that two-try salvo from the home team, and put the icing on the cake with another score of their own.
This time it was something spectacular. Jamie Nutbrown, who came on for the fantastic Brendon Leonard, scored the try of the match, after some fantastic work from the Chiefs.
No surprise then that it was Sivivatu again who instigated the move, when he intercepted a stray Brumbies pass close to his own try-line. He set off across field, evading the first line of defence. Sivivatu spotted yet another gap and sped through.
The Chiefs worked the ball through various pairs of hands, switching and dummying their way into space. Tanerau Latimer then found himself in possession, and he drew the last defender to feed Nutbrown, who put the finishing touches on the converted 95-metre score. The scoreboard read 42-21.
There was still time for a Chiefs yellow card and a consolation try for the Brumbies, which was quite valuable as it gave them a bonus point.
Mortlock converted to complete a perfect kicking game, and the final whistle sounded to launch the Chiefs into the heady heights of fourth place on the log standings.
Man of the match: There are two stand-out candidates, both from the Chiefs. But Stephen Donald misses out narrowly, and the brilliant Sitiveni Sivivatu gets the gong for making scoring and setting up tries look as easy as child's play.
Moment of the match: That 90-odd metre team effort from the Chiefs that led to Jamie Nutbrown's try.
Villain of the match: There were no bullies or bad boys in this game.
The scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: T Smith, Holmes 2, Playford
Cons: Mortlock 4
Pens: None
For the Chiefs:
Tries: Sivivatu, Bruce, Donald 2, Waqaseduadua, Nutbrown
Cons: Donald 5, Bruce
Pens: None
Yellow cards: Callum Bruce (Chiefs, 39 - professional foul, killing the ball); Faifili Levave (Chiefs, 79 - repeated offence, hands in the ruck)
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Playford, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Patrick Phibbs, 8 Stephen
Hoiles, 7 George Smith, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Salesi Ma'afu, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Joshua Holmes, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Sanualio Afeaki.
Chiefs: 15 Mils Muliaina (captain), 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Callum Bruce, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis, 1 Simms Davison.
Replacements: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 Ben May, 18 Jay Williams, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Dwayne Sweeney, 22 Viliame Waqaseduadua.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Nathan Pearce (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub
(Australia)
Assessor: Brendan McCormick (Australia)
By Phil Coetzer
