Brumbies route Sunwolves to go back top
The two-time winners now go into the four-week international Test season recess equal on points with the Waratahs, but ahead on the ladder with eight wins to their rivals' seven.
The games was over as a contest long before the half-hour mark, with the home team taking a 28-0 lead into the break against a Sunwolves team that clearly lacked any desire to put up anything other than token resistance.
They added six more tries after the break to the four they scored in the first half, with the Sunwolves only marginally better in the second half than they were before the break.
That can be put down to the arrival of star imports Tusi Pisi (Samoa) and Rian Viljoen (South Africa), who had played off the bench, after starting in all their earlier matches.
Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore and wing Nigel Ah Wong each scored two tries as coach Stephen Larkham emptied the Brumbies replacements bench to rest his key players in the second half.
It was the most points the Brumbies have scored since 2004, when they thrashed South Africa's Lions 68-28.
The Sunwolves were outmatched by the Australian contenders and leave Australia having impressed in their 25-35 defeat to the Reds in Brisbane last weekend.
The Brumbies used the opportunity to employ some of their rehearsed training ground moves to conjure some tries against the porous Sunwolves defence.
Flyhalf Christian Lealiifano had plenty of goal-kicking practice and finished with eight conversions from 10 attempts.
"The guys who came on finished well so it's a nice result for us going into the international break," Brumbies skipper Moore said.
"The replacements have done a good job all year and there's a couple of new guys who have had their first taste in the last few weeks.
"So that's really important that those guys are experiencing Super Rugby and they're the future of the team going forward."
The Brumbies now have the edge over the Waratahs with matches against the Reds, Blues and Western Force – all teams below them on the standings – while the Waratahs face a tough match against New Zealand's Hurricanes.
The Sunwolves prevented a wipe-out when their star wing Akihito Yamada scored his ninth try of the season with 14 minutes left after sloppy ball retention by the Brumbies.
The Sunwolves, who have one win and a draw from their 12 games, face the Waratahs next in Tokyo after the international Test break on July 2, while the Brumbies host the Reds.
Man of the match: The Sunwolves, like they have done often this season when away from home, mentally did not arrive for the game. You can pick the entire Brumbies team – it was so one-sided and that is what we are doing, because they maintained their structure for most part, even when the temptation was there to get trigger happy.
The scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Fardy, Moore 2, Dowsett, Ah Wong 2, Toua, Jackson-Hope, Dargaville, Taliauli
Cons: Lealiifano 8
For the Sunwolves:
Try: Yamada
Yellow card: Hitoshi Ono (Sunwolves, 40 – foul play, headbutting)
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Aidan Toua, 14 Nigel Ah Wong, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Robbie Coleman, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Christian Lealiifano (co-captain), 9 Michael Dowsett, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Ruan Smith, 2 Stephen Moore (co-captain), 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Allan Alaalatoa, 18 Leslie Leulua'iali'i-Makin, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Jordan Smiler, 21 Joe Powell, 22 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 23 Lausii Taliauli.
Sunwolves: 15 Yasutaka Asahara, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Derek Carpenter, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yuki Yatomi, 8 Ed Quirk, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Liaki Moli, 5 Fa'atiga Lemalu, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Shota Horie (captain), 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Ziun Gu, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Yoshiya Hosoda, 20 Taiyo Ando, 21 Daisuke Inoue, 22 Tusi Pisi , 23 Riaan Viljoen.
Referee: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
TMO: Ian Smith (Australia)
