Brumbies topple the Highlanders

The Brumbies created a shock in Super Rugby Round Five with a 33-26 victory over the Highlanders in Canberra to hand the Otago side their first defeat of the season.

There was in this intense match a moment of great sportsmanship. Brumby Pat McCabe was part of a tackle on the Highlanders Colin Slade. Immediately he signalled to the referee that all was not well with Slade. immediately the referee stopped the game and after a long delay Slade was taken off on the motorised stretcher, apparently with a broken left ankle.

Take your hat off to the never-say-die Brumbies. They looked down and out and the more down and out they looked, the more points they scored. It was a perverse game at one stage.

The unbeaten Highlanders were all over them In the first 20 minutes of the match they had 23% of possession with all that that meant of their share of territory and they led 17-3. It was bizarre. Then the Brumbies grew in confidence and were going better and then the Highlanders outscored them so that the score at half-time was 20-13.

Both sides ran to start and the Highlanders were on their way to scoring a try after a carry by Andrew Hore and a break by Shaun Treeby but then Tamati Ellison tried an 'under the armpit' pass and big Joe Tomane intercepted it and sprinted 85 metres downfield, growing increasingly gleeful as he went, to score under the posts. 7-0 after 5 minutes.

The Highlanders then scored when Slade did not wait for the penalty but, left-footed dropped a goal. 7-3 after 8 minutes.

The Highlanders continued to dominate possession and territory but the Brumbies were getting stuck into the tackle/rucks, knowing they had to in order to survive against the best post-tackle team in Super Rugby, and eventually it was the Brumbies who were winning the collision. But then they had Michael Hooper and the Highlanders did not have Adam Thomson.

Henry Speight won a turnover for the Brumbies and they went left. Centre Andrew Smith broke, drew Ben Smith and gave to Tomane who swerved inside a poor attempt at a tackle by Ellison to score his second try. 14-3 after 16 minutes and the side with the 14 were the ones living off scraps.

Christian Lealiifano had a long run in counterattack and Aaron Smith was penalised for tackling Stephen Moore early. 17-3 and then Ben Mowen was penalised at a tackle. 17-6 after 23 minutes.

From now on the Brumbies grew in confidence. They ran and handled with increasing sharpness while the Highlander tended to crab across the field.

They were crabbing right from a line-out when they suddenly changed the angle when Slade turned it inside to Hosea Gear across from the left wing. Gear accelerated through the gap and then passed inside to Aaron Smith and the jack-in-a-box scrumhalf scored. 17-13 after 35 minutes.

When Hore was penalised at a tackle on the stroke of half-time Lealiifano goaled. 20-13 at half-time and it seemed strange and you stayed waiting for the Highlanders to take over.

There was a penalty for Slade and a penalty for Lealiifano at the start of the second half and then the Highlanders drew level with a strange try.

Treeby darted forward, was knocked over, jumped up again and ran unopposed for a try that looked all wrong but apparently wasn't. 23-23 after 48 minutes.

Now the teams battled against each other as the Highlanders lost Slade.

Lealiifano kicked a penalty for the Brumbies and Chris Noakes one for the Highlanders. 26-26 after 57 minutes.

There was one try left in the game. McCabe started it with a long break that set the Brumbies on the attack. Ian Prior lost the ball from the tackle but then Aaron Smith lost it as well, and Michael Hooper snapped it up and was over for the try that won the match.

There were still 18 minutes to play, during which neither side really looked like scoring.

Afterwards the Brumbies' captain, Ben Mowen, praised the 'huge character' in the team with success based on trust in each other which in turn is based on hard work.

Man of the Match: Michael Hooper, the 20-year-old Brumby flank who was everywhere.

Scorers:

For Brumbies:
Tries: Tomane 2, Hooper
Cons: Lealiifano 3
Pens: Lealiifano 4

For Highlanders:
Tries: A.Smith, Treeby
Cons: Slade 2
Pens: Slade 2, Noakes
DG: Slade

Teams:

Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Ian Prior, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Leon Power, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Scott Fardy, 19 Ita Vaea, 20 Nick White, 21 Zack Holmes, 22 Tevita Kuridrani.

Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Kade Poki, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Doug Tietjens, 6 James Haskell, 5 Culum Retallick, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Chris King, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Jamie Mackintosh (captain).
Replacements: 16 Jason Rutledge, 17 Bronson Murray, 18 Nick Crosswell, 19 Elliot Dixon, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Chris Noakes, 22 Buxton Popoali'i.

Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Simon Moore (Australia)
TMO: Steve Lesczcynski (Australia)

By Paul Dobson