Brumbies too strong for Cheetahs
The Brumbies maintained their stranglehold on the Australian conference with a 20-3 win over the hapless Cheetahs in Canberra on Saturday.
It was the Brumbies' 11th consecutive win at home and cemented their second place on Super Rugby's global standings.
The home team outscored the visitors by two tries to none and will be happy with their defence - even though they were probably fortunate not to have been penalised more for transgressions.
The Cheetahs, although having been competitive for large chunks of the game, were just not accurate enough to have been a real threat to the Brumbies.
The well-drilled Brumbies controlled the rucks and mauls.
It was the Brumbies' seventh straight win over the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs in Canberra and continues their unbeaten run at home from early last season.
Inside centre Christian Lealiifano finished with 15 points from a try, two conversions and two penalty goals, while lock Blake Enever plunged over for his first Super Rugby try.
Joe Pietersen kicked the Cheetahs only points.
The Brumbies, with David Pocock outstanding in the rucks and mauls, built up a 13-3 lead at half-time and were never in any danger against the Cheetahs, who slumped to their fifth straight loss.
Lealiifano brushed aside a feeble tackle from flyhalf Pietersen in just the fourth minute to score a soft try, before Enever powered over five minutes after the interval to tighten the Brumbies' grip on the match.
The Brumbies' winning margin would have been greater but for a disputed disallowed try to Matt Toomua in the first half and Henry Speight losing the ball over the try-line midway through the second half.
"I think the biggest positive to come out of the game was our defence, they score twenty points a game on average so to keep them to three was massive," Toomua said.
Skipper Stephen Moore praised the Brumbies' maul defence.
"I thought our defence was really good, particularly our maul defence and our one-on-one tackles," he said.
"It would have been nice to get the four tries for the bonus point, but sometimes that's the way the game goes."
Cheetahs captain Francois Uys said his team played well in patches.
"Our accuracy let us down, we didn't really execute some of the plays and I think one or two opportunities didn't go our way," Uys said.
"We tried to keep it a bit tight, but the Brumbies defended the maul extremely well, especially in the first half while we were on their goal-line, and we didn't come away with any points and in the second half we were chasing the game."
The Brumbies cross the Tasman next week to face the Blues in Auckland, while the Cheetahs head to Perth to play Western Force on their way home.
Man of the match: Heinrich Brüssow tried hard, Willie Britz had a few decent runs and Coenie Oosthuizen was also good value. Christian Lealiifano did what was expected of him, Nic White had a few good moments, while Henry Speight showed that the move to centre could make him an even bigger danger than he already is. However, our award goes to Brumbies flank David Pocock, who once again showed that he has the ability to push the envelope without getting on the wrong side of the referee too often. His workrate is something to behold.
The scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Lealiifano, Enever
Cons: Lealiifano 2
Pens: Lealiifano 2
For the Cheetahs:
Pen: Pietersen
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Henry Speight, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Blake Enever, 3 Scott Sio, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Allan Alaalatoa, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Ita Vaea, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Lausii Taliauli, 23 Nigel Ah Wong.
Cheetahs: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Johannes Prinsloo, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Danie Mienie.
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Burrie Gildenhuys Uys, 18 Nicolaas van Dyk, 19 Steven Sykes, 20 Tienie Burger, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 Rayno Benjamin.
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner, James Leckie
TMO: Peter Marshall