Brumbies edge out Rebels

The match was tight in typical fashion of an Aussie derby, with both sides looking for territory before risking playing with the ball.

 

The game was also dominated by penalties at the breakdown, with any number of stoppages in the first half in particular.

 

As the match wore on needless basic errors crept into the match and both sides looked afraid to use the ball and take any kind of risk with the ball in hand. No risk and no rewards as things dragged on with kicking and re-set scrums.

 

As the teams cancelled each other out the positive point was some very good defensive work to avoid letting the match open up. The Rebels tackled especially well, but then again they've had a lot of practice making tackles this season.

 

While the Brumbies will be happy to pick up the victory, not to score four tries against an injury-plagued Rebels outfit was pretty poor.

 

The Brumbies got the ball rolling with a pair of long-range penalties from Jesse Mogg.

 

A yellow card for Rebels prop Jono Owen for repeated infringements at the breakdown by Rebels players gave the Brumbies a big opening. With their numerical advantage the Brumbies piled on the pressure from inside the Rebels 22m until Andrew Smith darted into a half-gap and over the line.

 

The Rebels were able to scrape their way back into the match through some strong work from their forwards to keep the Brumbies at bay, while Julian Huxley landed three penalties.

 

Just before the break things opened up for the Rebels as James Hilgendorf sliced through a hole and came tanalisingly close to scoring after a great individual effort. From the resulting scrum once again the Rebels came up just short with some good defence from the Brumbies.

 

Huxley added another penalty to take the Rebels into half-time trailing 12-14.

 

The Brumbies made a good start to the second half with an early penalty from Zack Holmes to extend what was still a narrow lead.

 

After a long period of pressure inside the Rebels' 22 the Brumbies were finally rewarded with a try. Quick ball out wide gave Robbie Coleman the chance to hit the line at pace and stretch over to score in the corner.

 

From the re-start the Rebels were able to strike back immediately. The Brumbies didn't control the ball as it bounced off Stephen Moore's head and was collected by Gareth Delve. The no.8 flipped a pass to Cooper Vuna, who stepped his way past Coleman to score in the corner. Huxley curled in the conversion and the rebels trailed 19-24 after 55 minutes.

 

Holmes added another penalty for the Brumbies to make sure that the man operating the scoreboard hadn't fallen asleep following a very poor passage of play.

 

The Rebels attacked in an effort to finish within seven points, but thankfully the referee blew the final whistle and the game was over.

 

Man of the match: For the Rebels the work from Gareth Delve was great and he made countless tackle. With few opportunities to run with the ball the hard work was done up front and Ben Mowen and Michael Hooper did some great work. However, the man who mad the biggest impact in the forwards was Scott Fardy.

 

 

Try: Vuna

Con: Huxley

Pens: Huxley 4

 

Yellow card: Jono Owen (23rd minute – repeated breakdown infringements)

 

Tries: Smith, Coleman

Con: Holmes

Pens: Mogg 2, Holmes 3

 

 

Rebels: 15 Julian Huxley, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 James Hilgendorf, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Hugh Perrett, 6 Luke Jones, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Cadeyrn Neville, 3 Jono Owen, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Nic Henderson. 

Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Alister Campbell, 19 Tom Chamberlain, 20 Tim Davidson, 21 Richard Kingi, 22 Nic Stirzaker.

 

Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Jesse Mogg, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Leon Power, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ruaidhri Murphy.

Replacements: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 Colby Faingaa, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Henry Speight, 22 Tevita Kuridrani.

 

Referee: Keith Brown (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Ian Smith (Australia), Simon Moore (Australia)

TMO: Steve Lesczcynski (Australia)