Brumbies cull Lions at the death
Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:50
Young Brumbies flyhalf Christian Lealiifano scored a last-gasp try to clinch a 28-21 victory over a tenacious Lions team at Canberra Stadium on Friday.
The Brumbies found themselves under the kosh for long parts of the match as the Lions raised their game and gave a great account of themselves on the night.
But it wasn't to be for the South Africans, as some more controversial refereeing near the death by Kelvin Deaker helped the Brumbies to an unconvincing win.
All in all it was a great game of rugby, and the two teams were very evenly matched on the day. Both teams were also intent on playing positive rugby, and some very watchable action followed.
With virtually their first attack of the game, the Lions managed to penetrate the Brumbies. It was outside centre Jannie Boshoff, enjoying a rare start at outside centre, who broke a weak Brumby tackle in midfield, and raced into space.
He made about 35 metres upfield while scanning frantically for support. It came in the shape of captain Cobus 'Baywatch' Grobbelaar, who took the pass as the cover defence caught up with Boshoff, and crashed over next to the posts for the try.
Earl Rose, back after a lengthy injury lay-off, converted to make it 7-0 for the Lions.
The Brumbies accepted this wake-up call and promptly sprung into action. Adam Ashley-Cooper looked especially dangerous in the early exchanges, and he was very close to scoring from a chip kick by Stirling Mortlock, but the ball only just beat him into touch-in-goal.
The Brumbies still had a penalty advantage, and Mortlock did the honours to reduce the deficit to four points.
But the Lions were on the front foot, and were getting some very good field positioning. They took the ball up into the Brumbies 22, and managed to suck many defenders in. Jaco van Schalkwyk spotted a massive overlap on the left wing, and threw a long skip pass to Ryno Benjamin, who had the line at his mercy seven metres out.
Benjamin however dropped the pass under no pressure at all, and the try went abegging.
The Brumbies took advantage of the let-off, and on 27 minutes, Mortlock slotted another penalty after Joe van Niekerk was miles offside in defending the Lions try-line. 7-6 to the Lions.
The Lions were starting to lose their composure during the latter stages of the first half, as they coughed up the ball on many occasions. To make matters worse, they also lost eighthman Willem Alberts after an accidental collision with teammate Walter Venter left the big loose forward unconscious.
A lengthy break followed while the medics attended to Alberts, and he was eventually replaced.
The Brumbies then caught the Lions cold on the restart, and immediately forced their way upfield to score under the posts through Stirling Mortlock. The veteran centre converted his own try to make it 13-7 on 32 minutes.
Both sides had opportunities to add to their tallies, but the chances weren't taken, and the players went into the break with the scoreboard reading 13-7 to the Brumbies.
The second half saw the teams jostling for position, but their was no end to the physical nature of the confrontation.
Five minutes into the period, Lions playmaker Louis Ludik found himself wiped out by a thunderous Stirling Mortlock tackle, after the Lions flyer received a hospital pass. The force of the impact of Mortlock's shoulder on Ludik's chest was so great that it bounced the wing right off his feet, and he spent the next three minutes trying to reinflate his lungs.
Earl Rose had the chance to close the gap a minute later, but his long penalty kick faded to the right.
However, the fullback did mark his return to action with a great try moments later, after some great work by the tenacious Ludik, and a line-break from the talented Walter Venter at centre.
Rose took the offload cleanly, and crashed in under the posts. He also popped over the easy conversion to put the Lions back into a narrow 14-13 lead on 52 minutes.
The Lions were the benefactors of more charity from the Brumbies only three minutes later, when the home forwards allowed a high ball to bounce just outside their 22. Walter Venter was first to react to the bounce and collected the pill, feeding Earl Rose on his outside.
The fullback read the situation better than any of the Brumbies defenders, and he had a simple job of running in under the posts and scoring the Lions third try.
Rose converted once again to put the Lions out to a 21-13 lead in the 56th minute.
Victory was in sight for the Lions, and they looked determined to fight tooth and nail after their hard work had earned them the eight-point lead.
But they failed to keep out the Brumbies for long, and a yellow card for prop JC Janse van Rensburg handicapped the Lions acutely.
They paid for Janse van Rensburg's indiscretion almost immediately when Mark Gerrard rounded off in the corner after replacement back Rudi Vogt failed to make an effective tackle on the line.
The conversion went wide, but the Brumbies were now back in the contest with a vengeance and trailed by three with 15 minutes remaining.
Gerrard took over the kicking duties from Mortlock five minutes later after referee Kelvin Deaker, who was becoming more and more influential in the match, gave a penalty against the Lions.
Gerrard slotted the kick and the scores were tied.
Ten minutes to go, and suddenly all the pressure was on the Lions again. There were a multitude of phases as the Brumbies settled into a pattern of pick and drive, with the occasional cross kick to the wings.
The home side realised that they were benefitting at the ruck from Deaker's interpretations, as he continued to punish the Lions. The Gautengers were visibly confused at many of the decisions, and it seemed to be only a matter of time before the retreating Lions would fold.
They kept tackling, and Deaker kept penalising them.
But just on the stroke of full-time, young Brumbies playmaker Christian Lealiifano broke the match deciding tackle in midfield, and rushed over for the winning try.
It turned out to be the final move of the match, as the final whistle went directly after Gerrard added the extras with an easy conversion.
The Brumbies had won another match after some contentious refereeing, and what's more, they now find themselves in playoff contention, replacing the Stormers in fourth position on the log.
The Lions have to endure some more heartbreak - their effort and commitment in this match was fantastic, and they deserved more than just the losing bonus point.
But despite all these positives, they remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Man of the match: Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock made a big impact in this match, scoring 13 points for his team, and making some huge tackles in defence.
Moment of the match: Stirling Mortlock's bulldozing tackle on Louis Ludik that left the Lions man winded for several minutes.
Villain of the match: Once again the referee will be under scrutiny in a Brumbies game. Referee Kelvin Deaker will do well to explain some of his decisions in the closing minutes of this match.
Scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Mortlock, Gerrard, Lealiifano
Cons: Mortlock, Gerrard
Pens: Mortlock 2, Gerrard
For the Lions:
Tries: Grobbelaar, Rose 2
Cons: Rose 3
Yellow card: JC Janse van Rensburg (Lions, 60 - repeated infringement, not rolling away at the ruck)
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Patrick Phibbs, 8 Julian Salvi, 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 Ben Alexander, 20 Stephen Hoiles, 21 Joshua Holmes, 22 Sanualio Afeaki.
Lions: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Louis Ludik, 13 Jannie Boshoff, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Rayno Benjamin, 10 Jaco van Schalkwyk, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Joe van Niekerk, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 Gerhard Mostert, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 JC Janse van Rensburg, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Eugene Maqwelana, 18 Franco van Merwe, 19 Wilhelm Koch, 20 Chris
Jonck 21 Rudi Vogt, 22 Dusty Noble.
Referee: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Brett Bowden (Australia)
Television match official: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
Assessor: Wayne Erickson (Australia)
By Phil Coetzer
