Highlanders overhaul Brumbies

 

The Brumbies, who were bolstered by a large contingent of Wallabies, would have been hopeful of getting back to winning ways after going down 21-31 to Australian rivals, the Western Force, last week.

 

The Highlanders on the other hand were looking to continue the momentum they had built in their 29-26 victory over the Crusaders last week.

 

The warm-up match started off well for the Brumbies as Wallaby centre Tevita Kuridrani slid over in the corner after some great work by Henry Speight, coming in off the opposite wing.

 

Kuridrani was soon back into the action as some great linking play between the centre and Christian Lealiifano saw him slide under the posts for his second of the match.

 

Nic White was on hand to pop over the simple conversion.

 

The match was littered with injury scares throughout with the likes of lock Sam Carter needing some attention after a solid defensive effort from the Australians.

 

Speight soon turned from provider to scorer after Robbie Coleman was able to make a silky run down the touch line and offload to the new Wallaby for a simple finish.

 

This time Lealiifano stepped up to slot the conversion.

 

The injury concerns followed as Mitch Wade was forced from the field for the Brumbies, replaced by Les Makin.

 

At the halftime stage it was all the Brumbies as the score remained 19-0 to the home team.

 

The Highlanders got themselves onto the score sheet with an early intercept try in the second half from Ryan Tongia with the conversion coming from Hayden Parker.

 

The Highlanders continued their press and soon made it 14-19 after Teihorangi Walden got over the line with some persistent pressure from the New Zealanders.

 

Tongia, an earlier scorer was then shown a straight Red Card for a dangerous tackle leaving the visitors to fight it out with only 14 men for the rest of the game.

 

Nic White was also shown a card soon after, this time a yellow, for a reapeated infringement that squared up the numbers for the two teams moving into the final 20 minutes.

 

The Highlanders were able to take advantage of the Brumbies being a man down as Dan Pryor forced his way over from close range to take the lead for the first time in the game.

 

The extra two points were added by Parker.

 

With less than five minutes of the game remaining, the Highlanders looked to make the result safe as Lee Allen slotted over a penalty to give the visitors a five point lead.

 

That is how the game would finish off as the Highlanders managed to absorb the early onslaught from the Brumbies and turn their fortunes around to make it two from two in the pre-season fixtures for the men from Otago.

 

 

Tries: Kuridrani 2, Speight

Cons: White, Lealiifano

 

Tries: Tongia, Walden, Pryor

Cons: Parker 3

Pen: Allan

 

Yellow Card: Nic White (Brumbies, 65 – Foul play, repeated infringements)

 

Red Card: Ryan Tongia (Highlanders, 56 – Foul play, dangerous tackle)

 

 

Brumbies squad: Allan Alaalatoa, Ben Alexander, Rory Arnold, Jarrad Butler, Sam Carter, Robbie Coleman, James Dargaville, Michael Dowsett, Sean Doyle, Blake Enever, Scott Fardy, Rod Iona, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano, Leslie Leulua'iali'i-Makin, David Pocock, Scott Sio, Jordan Smiler,  Jean-Pierre Smith, Ruan Smith, Henry Speight, Tom Staniforth, Lausii Taliauli, Joe Tomane, Matt Toomua, Ita Vaea, Mitch Wade, Nic White.

 

Highlanders: 15 Trent Renata, 14 Patrick Osborne, 13 Shaun Treeby, 12 Jason Emery, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Scott Eade, 8 Nasi Manu (captain), 7 Shane Christie, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Ma'afu Fia, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Brendon Edmonds.

Replacements – from: Sam Anderson-Heather, Josh Hohneck, Ross Geldenhuys, Mark Reddish, Joe Latta, Dan Pryor , John Hardie, Josh Renton, Lima Sopoaga, Teihorangi Walden, Michael Collins, Ryan Tongia.

 

Referee: Matt O'Brien (Australia)

Assistant referees: Michael Hogan, James Morris