Pocock hat-trick seals Brumbies win
The Brumbies produced a commanding first-half performance to run out 31-18 winners over the Highlanders in their Super Rugby Round 11 match in Canberra on Friday.
Racing to a 31-6 lead at half-time, with the bonus point already secured, the Brumbies failed to replicate that form after the break.
Two tries to the Highlanders gave them some hope, but the gap proved too much for the visitors to close.
In the end it was a powerful maul that gifted Pocock, fighting his way back from two knee reconstructions, his hat-trick inside the opening 35 minutes.
Wing Henry Speight opened the scoring in the fifth minute after the Brumbies seized on a loose ball from a Highlanders scrum win to score at the other end of the field.
Christian Lealiifano converted all four tries and landed a penalty goal for a tally of 11 points.
But the Highlanders knuckled down in the second half, outscoring the home side 12 points to nil with tries to Shaun Treeby and Dan Pryor and were pressing at the end for a losing bonus point.
The Highlanders looked disjointed without their three rested All Blacks - fullback Ben Smith, centre Malakai Fekitoa and scrumhalf Aaron Smith.
"We really needed that win after two losses so we're very happy to get the five points," Brumbies skipper Stephen Moore said.
"We would have liked to have kicked on in the second half but we knew they would come back into the game.
"The driving maul really worked well for us, our mauls have been pretty good and we're happy to get the tries off the back of that."
Highlanders skipper Nasi Manu said it was an embarrassing first half for his side.
"We just didn't front up in the forward pack and we weren't in the game in the first half, but we showed what we can do in the second half," Manu said.
"We were more urgent and showed better attitude in the second half but our maul defence let us down."
The Highlanders host South Africa's Sharks next week, while the Brumbies face the Waratahs at home.
Man of the match: Lima Sopoaga had his moments, Nasi Manu worked hard and Joe Wheeler looked impressive till he left the field injured. Stephen Moore was again a workhorse for the Brumbies, Scott Fardy was solid in the line-outs, produced a few turnovers and some strong carries. However, our award goes to hat-trick man David Pocock - not for his armchair rides over the tryline, but rather the all round performance of the Brumbies flank.
The scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Speight, Pocock 3
Cons: Lealiifano 4
Pen: Lealiifano
For the Highlanders:
Tries: Treeby, Pryor
Con: Sopoaga
Pens: Sopoaga 2
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Robbie Coleman, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Michael Dowsett, 8 Ita Vaea, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Jordan Smiler, 3 Ruan Smith, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 JP Smith.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Allan Alaalatoa, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Jarrad Butler, 21 Joe Powell, 22 Rod Iona, 23 Nigel Ah Wong.
Highlanders: 15 Trent Renata, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Richard Buckman, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Nasi Manu (captain), 7 James Lentjes, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 Pingi Tala'apitaga, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Joe Latta, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Dan Pryor, 22 Josh Renton, 23 Jason Emery.
Referee: Matt O'Brien (Australia)
Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
TMO: Peter Marshall (Australia)