Brumbies aiming to take momentum into 'Saders clash

Brumbies boss Stephen Larkham said Saturday’s win, the first at the Allianz Stadium since 2002, is testament to how hard the side has been working on and off the field in preparation for the middle section of the 2016 Super rugby season.

“How many times have we won up here in Sydney? Not many,” said Larkham.

“2012 was the last time (Homebush) then 2002 the previous time before that, so we’ve always struggled to play well up here, but I think we played really well.

“We not only won, but we played really well.”

The last period of the game was an attacking onslaught by the Waratahs that were down by six, and the Brumbies' defence held them out time and time again.

“They threw a fair bit at us,” he said.

“Particularly that last little period where they were only six behind but defensively the boys were phenomenal.”

“The reserves when they came off the bench really added some impact. Just to note one person Tom Staniforth was superb tonight. The game in that last period was all about defense and Tom led the way.”

The Waratahs dominated possession throughout the physical contest with the Brumbies only seeing 38 percent of the ball.

“There was a lot of physicality which I think it was led by the tackling first.

“We’ve got guys who have different skills; Jarrad [Butler] has been working really hard on his breakdown skills and I thought he was tremendous tonight and Scott Fardy is also really good at that.

“Other guys are really good at just messing up that breakdown, Sam Carter and Stephen Moore are really good at slowing their ball down.

“It was pleasing that we’ve lost a quality player like Pocock for a couple of weeks but the other guys stepped up like we knew they would.”

The Waratahs can be extremely dangerous with the ball in hand and Larkham was particularly aware of that danger.

“They’re a quality outfit particularly on attack if they can hold onto the ball they’re dangerous but we did enough tonight.”

The Brumbies are now preparing for Sunday afternoon’s blockbuster against the in-form Crusaders side, who are looking for their seventh win in a row.

“The good thing for us is we’ve got an eight-day turnaround which we haven’t had so far this year.

“We’ll give the guys a couple of days off and we’ll come back a little fresher on the Tuesday and get another solid week in.”