Brumbies Searching for Answers after Hurricane Thrashing
SYDNEY—The shell-shocked Brumbies were looking for answers after their Super 14 rugby finals hopes took a pounding with a record 56-7 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.
It was the first time the Brumbies had ever conceded 50 or more points in the Super tournament and easily their biggest losing margin.
The Canberra based franchise's previous biggest loss was a 34 point defeat, 44-10, to NSW in Sydney in 1996, the first year of the tournament.
The points conceded also eclipsed their previous largest amount of 49, also inflicted by the Hurricanes in Wellington four years ago.
The Brumbies have slipped to eighth following the Western Forces' victory over the Lions on Friday night and are seven points behind the Hurricanes who have moved up to first.
While the Brumbies refused to concede their finals hopes had been extinguished by the thrashing, the result is a huge setback after three successive wins.
Brumbies coach Andy Friend felt there was perhaps more to the lacklustre performance than simply the emotional toll of the last two weeks catching up with the team following the tragic death in South Africa of their team mate Shawn Mackay.
"That's probably the easy answer to say that, but I think that possibly there are some other issues that we need to address," Friend said.
"A lot of blokes seem to be very flat, we need to find out why. I felt our preparation was good but the performance obviously didn't indicate that."
There was no indication of the carnage to come after the visitors scored the first seven points through an early converted try to prop Ben Alexander.
But they then conceded eight tries, four in each half, as the Hurricanes powered on 56 unanswered points.
Following a penalty to five-eighth Willie Ripia, the Hurricanes scored four first half tries in twenty minutes through Cory Jane, centre Conrad Smith and wingers Tamati Ellison and David Smith.
The unstoppable Hurricanes maintained their onslaught after the break with replacement back Zac Guildford scoring two tries and forwards Falfili Levave and Victor Vito each crossing once.
The Hurricanes produced an irresistible mixture of speed, strength, skill and finesse to blow the Brumbies away.
Several of their tries came from sweeping moves and classy ball movement.
Powerful centre Ma'a Nonu was particularly damaging, while fullback Jane was also consistently dangerous.
Six of the Hurricanes' tries were scored by backs as they continually stretched the Brumbies out wide, while the home side also reigned at the breakdown, forcing numerous turnovers.
Captain and No.8 Stephen Hoiles said while the Hurricanes backs scored plenty of tries out wide, he felt the match was won at the breakdown.
The Hurricanes forced numerous turnovers and Friend conceded his side was swamped at the breakdown.
"I thought physically at the breakdown we were completely beaten to the ball, I thought they really dominated us there," Friend said.
The porous defensive effort by the Brumbies was especially disappointing given they had placed a great pre-match emphasis on that aspect of the game.
Force Thrash Hapless Lions
PERTH—Western Force continued their late-season charge up the table with a thumping 55-14 bonus-point Super 14 win over the hapless Lions at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.
Even the confirmation of winger Drew Mitchell's departure to the Waratahs couldn't dampen the spirit of the Force, who ran in eight tries to post their biggest ever win and highest score, eclipsing the 45 posted against the Cheetahs in 2007.
Fit-again winger Cameron Shepherd scored a brace while Mitchell, Matt Giteau, James O'Connor and replacement prop AJ Whalley also got in on the act on a night where the sublime Force dominated every facet of the match.
The Force were also awarded two penalty tries.
The win lifts the Force to within one point of the top four, although that gap will widen by the completion of round 11.
To compound the Lions' woes, last week's hat-trick hero Henno Mentz was forced off late in the first half with an ankle injury, while the Force will monitor Sam Wykes after the lock injured his troublesome shoulder.
A sickening headclash between Force team-mates Gareth Hardy and Richard Stanford after the final siren stopped the game for several minutes but the pair managed to walk off.
The Force now embark on a testing two-game trip to South Africa, where they will take on the Bulls and Stormers before rounding out the season at home against the Highlanders.
It took just 58 seconds for the Force to start the demolition, with Mitchell breaking through the Lions' brittle defence to notch the opening try of the night.
Giteau found a gap in between prop Lawrence Sephaka and flanker Ernst Joubert to cross over in the 19th minute, and things went from bad to worse for the Lions when skipper Joubert was handed a yellow card for taking down a try-bound Scott Staniforth.
The penalty try and Giteau's conversion made it 21-0 in the 25th minute but the visitors hit back three minutes before half-time when fullback Earl Rose slipped through a napping Force defence and released winger Jannie Boshoff for an easy five-pointer.
But the Force posted their four-try bonus point on the stroke of half-time, with Cameron Shepherd crossing over courtesy of breaking runs from Giteau and Wykes to give the home side a commanding 29-7 lead.
The Lions were reduced to 14 men for the second time in the match when substitute back Shandre Frolick failed to roll away from the breakdown and two minutes later Shepherd capitalised with his sixth try of the season following a neat weave from No.8 Tamaiti Horua.
Shepherd was denied a hat-trick in the 58th minute by television match official George Ayoub but it mattered little, with a mesmerising interplay between O'Connor, Mitchell and Shepherd sending O'Connor over in the 62nd minute.
A try to AJ Whalley and another penalty try -- against Todd Clever for bringing down O'Connor -- capped off the perfect night, with Rose's try in the 71st minute nothing more than a consolation as the Lions vented their frustrations late in the contest.
Reds Put Blues' Lights Out
BRISBANE—Written-off Queensland enjoyed one of their best Super 14 victories this decade with a massive 31-24 upset of the Blues.
Converted five-eighth Berrick Barnes was outstanding behind a gutsy Reds pack at North Harbour Stadium to end three years of heartbreak away from Brisbane.
The remarkable triumph against the All Black-laden Aucklanders ended a 20-match drought on the road for the embattled Reds, giving them just their second win in 27 matches on New Zealand soil since 1999 and first ever away to the Blues.
Queensland's forward strength, tactics and execution in windy and wet conditions were in stark contrast to the limp effort of a week ago when they were upset 31-20 by the Lions in Brisbane.
The Reds responded to a hail of criticism and scrutiny by jumping out to a mind-blowing 31-5 lead in the 50th minute after wingers Digby Ioane and Charlie Fetoai finished two brilliant team tries in quick succession.
They also had more chances to kill off the Blues but failed to put them away before the home side stormed back with three tries in the final 15 minutes running with the stiff wind to claim two bonus points and keep their play-off hopes alive.
Not even a blackout could stop the Reds with the game delayed for 50 minutes after a car accident at a power substation took out two banks of floodlights in the opening minutes of the game.
Queensland responded far better to the postponement and dominated the first half to lead 17-0 before conceding a controversial try to Isaia Toeava after half-time.
An overjoyed Barnes, who finished with a personal haul of 16 points, rated it the most satisfying win of his four seasons at Ballymore.
"That was gutsy," the Wallabies inside centre said.
"To win in Auckland, which no one does very much, and when they had their season riding on this, and to stick tight and grind it out when a lot of pressure was starting to come on us in the second half was very, very pleasing.
"I've been here four years and this is the first time I've won over here so I'm really, really happy."
Coach Phil Mooney, who kept the Barnes switch to five-eighth a secret all week, cut an extremely proud figure.
"That was comprehensive," Mooney said. "It was a brilliant night.
"People have basically had a crack at us all week and the boys are under pressure and the boys responded well which I knew they would.
"I told the boys after the game I was really proud of their effort but I wasn't surprised because that's a game that I knew we were capable of."
Fullback Mark McLinden was also instrumental in the win, setting up two of the Reds four tries, including the first to Barnes after half an hour when the five-eighth put him through a gap with a perfect cut-out pass.
Barnes long kicking game was crucial to the Reds dominating territory while his option-taking and ball-play was top shelf, suggesting the 22-year-old could reliably slot into the same position for the Wallabies if Matt Giteau was unavailable.
The only sour note for the Reds was a shoulder dislocation to young winger Luke Morahan which may end his season.
Super 14 Results and Standings-Round 11
STORMERS 18 (Peter Grant, Sireli Naqelevuki tries Willem de Waal con 2 pens) bt HIGHLANDERS 11 (Ben Smith try Matthew Berquist 2 pens) at Carisbrook Stadium. Referee: Matt Goddard (AUS).
WESTERN FORCE 55 (1 penalty try) (Cameron Shepherd 2, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, James O'Connor, AJ Whalley tries Giteau 6 cons pen) bt LIONS 14 (Jannie Boshoff, Earl Rose tries Andre Pretorius 2 cons) at Subiaco Oval. Referee: Paul Marks (AUS).
QUEENSLAND REDS 31 (Berrick Barnes, Anthony Faingaa, James Horwill, Digby Ioane tries Barnes 4 cons pen) bt BLUES 24 (Jimmy Gopperth, Kurtis Haiu, Peter Saili, Isaia Toeava tries Gopperth 2 cons) at North Harbour Stadium. Referee: Vinny Munro (NZL).
HURRICANES 56 (Zac Guildford 2, Tamati Ellison, Cory Jane, Faifili Levave, David Smith, Conrad Smith, Victor Vito tries William Ripia 5 cons 2 pens) bt BRUMBIES 7 (Ben Alexander try Stirling Mortlock con) at Westpac Stadium. Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZL).
CHEETAHS 20 (Hennie Daniller, Jongi Nokwe tries Naas Olivier 2 cons 2 pens) bt CRUSADERS 13 (Kahn Fotuali'i try Stephen Brett con Brett, Leon MacDonald pens) at Vodacom Park. Referee: James Leckie (AUS).
BULLS 33 (Derick Kuun 2, Wynand Olivier tries Morne Steyn 3 cons 3 pens drop goal) bt CHIEFS 27 (Callum Bruce, Richard Kahui, Sione Lauaki tries Stephen Donald 3 cons 2 pens) at Loftus Versfeld. Referee: Craig Joubert (RSA).
Bye-Sharks, NSW Waratahs
Super 14 Ladder P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
- Hurricanes 10 7 0 3 290 208 82 6 34
- Bulls 10 7 0 3 250 196 54 5 33
- Chiefs 10 6 0 4 284 207 77 8 32
- Sharks 10 7 0 3 221 181 40 3 31
- Blues 10 5 0 5 284 272 12 10 30
- Western Force 10 5 1 4 242 190 52 6 28
- NSW Waratahs 10 6 0 4 169 157 12 4 28
- Crusaders 10 5 1 4 152 153 -1 5 27
- Brumbies 10 6 0 4 215 267 -52 3 27
- Highlanders 10 4 0 6 189 186 3 7 23
- Stormers 10 3 0 7 168 175 -7 7 19
- Lions 10 3 0 7 214 327 -113 7 19
- Queensland Reds 10 3 0 7 205 259 -54 6 18
- Cheetahs 10 2 0 8 161 266 -105 3 11
Top point scorers (tries, conversions, field goals, penalty goals, points):
Morne Steyn (Bulls) 1 18 4 21 116
Stephen Donald (Chiefs) 1 27 - 13 98
Rory Kockott (Sharks) 2 21 1 14 97
Matt Giteau (Force) 1 20 1 13 87
Jimmy Gopperth (Blues) 3 20 - 8 79
Mark Gerrard (Brumbies) 3 6 1 14 72
Andre Pretorius (Lions) - 16 3 8 65
Jacques-Louis Potgieter (Cheetahs) 1 12 - 10 59
Peter Grant (Stormers) 2 10 - 9 57
Stirling Mortlock (Brumbies) 3 11 - 5 52
LEADING TRYSCORERS
6: Isaia Toeava (Blues), Sitiveni Sivivatu (Chiefs), Cameron Shepherd (Force), Henno Mentz (Lions), JP Pietersen (Sharks)
5: Digby Ioane (Reds), Jaque Fourie (Lions), Zac Guildford (Hurricanes), Jongi Nokwe (Cheetahs), Anthony Tuitavake (Blues), Joe Rokocoko (Blues), Pierre Spies (Bulls), Wynand Olivier (Bulls)
