Discipline was key for Brumbies

 

The Canberra side were the most heavily penalised side in last years tournament, it was clear that they have been working on their own discipline in comparison to the Reds who were blown out of the contest.

 

The Reds were penalised 12 times before the whistle had even gone for halftime with a red card being brandished to lock James Horwill after a second yellow.

 

“Last year we were the most penalized side in the competition," Brumbies head coach Stephen Larkham said.

 

"It was a focus for us to make sure we didn’t give away silly penalties.

 

“I was impressed with the way we kept momentum and pressure on our side, the Reds struggled to get any ball in the first half and that went a long way to us winning the game. 

 

“We aren’t getting ahead of ourselves, we have a tough match on the road next weekend. But certainly for a first up hit out it was satisfying.”

 

On the otherside, newly appointed Reds captain James Slipper was disappointed in his sides discipline, especially after they had made it a focus before the game.

 

"It's obviously not the way we wanted to start the season but these are the cards we're dealt and it's pretty disappointing," Slipper said.

 

"Ill discipline really hurt us and it was something we had spoken about before the game and once again we start off the year with a lot of penalties and you can't win games with that sort of discipline."

 

The victorious captain David Pocock, who was impressive on the night, had plenty of praise for his teams effort and made special mention of the half back pairing of Nic White and Matt Toomua.

 

"It was a really great way to start the year and I am really proud of the effort out there tonight," skipper Pocock said.

 

"To keep that sort of Reds side try-less was the biggest thing that we can take out of the game.

 

"I thought halves Nic White and Matt Toomua controlled the game really well."

 

Finally, Reds coach Richard Graham spoke of his personal disappointment after his team looked so threatening in the pre-season – especially in their game against the Crusaders at Ballymore.

 

“We’re disappointed because we thought we made good progress during the trials, but tonight [Friday] we went backwards," Graham said.

 

"We didn’t bring physicality and the Brumbies were physical and direct.

 

“Our discipline was poor. The penalty count at half time was 12 to four against us. That’s more than you would expect to give away in an entire game. 

 

"That put us constantly on the back foot so we were always under pressure. We made some poor decisions and we got punished for them.”

 

“We’ve got eight days to prepare for the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium and we’ve obviously got some work to do between now and then.”