Brumbies smash sloppy 'Canes

The Brumbies pulled of an impressive fightback to claim a 37-25 victory over the Hurricanes in the opening match of the weekend in Wellington on Friday.

The match seesawed back and forth after the Brumbies shot into the lead early on, the Hurricanes fought back scoring four tries and then took their foot off the gas. Thew Brumbies scored 21 unanswered points to claim an excellent fightback triumph.

While the Hurricanes had their usual moments of brilliance and special players to do individual things very well, but the Brumbies team effort was outstanding. To fight back from 25-16 down to a big victory is a massive feather in the cap for the Brumbies.

The Brumbies started the match aggressively looking to take a big physical threat to the Hurricanes up front and immediately won a penalty that the new flyhalf Zack Holmes drilled through the uprights.

The forwards of the Brumbies came again at the 'Canes, who were slow to get into the match and stood off and let the Canberra side run amok in the opening stages. The pressure paid off before long when powerful No.8 Fotu Auelua forced his way over the line from close range to score the opening try.

The Hurricanes found their way into the match through a well executed rolling maul that was controlled at the back by Karl Lowe and only dragged to ground a few metre short of the line. Quick as a flash scrumhalf TJ Perenara picked up and shot round the blindside to score a try.

The 'Canes got their noses in front for the first time in the match on the 30 minutes mark after a brilliant set move from the back of an attacking scrum. Slick handling skills from Perenara and Tim Bateman gave Victor Vito the gap to crash over under the posts after the No.8 ran a great line.

The half ended with the Hurricanes leading 15-13 and the match even balanced between the two sides.

The 'Canes were the team fastest out of the blacks in the second half, after a super run from Julien Savea in the middle of the park, as the big wing brushed off tackles from Nic White and Michael Hooper. The from about 30m out Perenara broke from the base of the ruck and went on a brilliant individual run, stepping inside Henry Speight and cutting the Brumbies defence to shreds to score his second try of the match.

The goal-kicking was off target in the second half, with Taylor, Holmes and Beauden Barrett all missing shots at goal badly.

The bonus point try followed soon afterwards for the Hurricanes, as the rolling maul brought the home side close to the line from an attacking line-out, before big Jeffery Toomaga-Allen forced himself over the line from close range.

The Brumbies lifted their game to find a way back into the match, and some confusion in the Hurricanes' defence gave Scott Fardy an opening to break the line from first receiver. Fardy drew the last defender and popped a pass out to his lock partner Sam Carter to slide over the line for a much-needed try. The conversion from Holmes brought the match back to a two point margin, with the 'Canes leading 25-23 after 55 minutes.

A knock to the head in the first half seemed to do the trick for Hooper, who has been on fire in the second half and muscled his way over the line for the third Brumbies try of the match. A successful kick from Holmes and the Brumbies found themselves in the lead 30-25 after 63 minutes.

The Hurricanes began to panic and the Brumbies rumbled their way up field after a great break down the touchline by Joe Tomane. The ball came out to Holmes, who cut back and stepped past a tackle to score a try.

The Hurricanes became frantic in closing stages, making errors and unable to penetrate the Brumbies defence, with Jake White's men happy to play for territory and run down the clock.

The lapse in concentration cost the Hurricanes, who'll be kicking themselves for going to sleep after leading 25-16 just after half-time.

Man of the match: Hurricanes wing Julian Savea was strong and ran powerfully with limited opportunities and even less support, while Michael Hooper was a elevation for the Brumbies after taking a massive knock to the head in the first half. However, the best player on the park was 'Canes scrumhalf TJ Perenara, who was exceptional behind a pack that was going backwards more often than not - scoring two very impressive individual tries.

Scorers:

For Hurricanes:

Tries: Perenara 2, Vito, Toomaga-Allen

Con: Taylor

Pen: Taylor

For Brumbies:

Tries: Auelua, Carter, Hooper, Holmes

Cons: Holmes 4

Pens: Holmes 3

Teams:

Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith (captain), 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben May, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Reggie Goodes.

Replacements: 16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Jack Lam, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Beauden Barrett, 22 Jayden Hayward.

Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Ian Prior, 8 Fotu Auelua, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Ben Mowen (captain), 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.

Replacements: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Ita Vaea, 20 Nic White, 21 Robbie Coleman, 22 Tevita Kuridrani.

Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand),  Richard Kelly (New Zealand)

TMO: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)

By Timmy Hancox