No Bonus for the Brumbies

The ACT Brumbies have used a sensational first half performance to run away with a convincing 28-7 victory over the Cats tonight at Canberra Stadium.

ACT produced a stunning attacking onslaught in the first 40 minutes, with the Brumbies threatening to cross the Cats line every time they touched the ball, but in the end they were only able to score three tries in the half when they could have crossed six or seven times.

Their poor finishing came back to bite them in the second half as the Brumbies missed chance after chance courtesy of sloppy turnovers and even though the effort was there they could not cross the Cats line for their fourth try which would have given them an all important bonus point.

“It’s a pretty good effort from coming from South Africa with the quick turnaround, but it’s pretty disappointing not to get the bonus point in the end,” said Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock told Fox Sports after the game.

“There are a lot of positives from tonight. Our defence was very solid and I was really happy with our ability to rip in, but we could have done with the bonus point.”

A late hit on Matt Giteau gave the Brumbies an early chance at points and new goal kicker Mark Gerrard made no mistakes with the 30 metre penalty goal slotting it over to put ACT ahead 3-0 after just three minutes.

It was the Brumbies of old in the sixth minute with the ball going from sideline to sideline through multiple sets of hands before it finally reached fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper who dived over in the left hand corner.

Gerrard wasn’t able to convert leaving the score at 8-0.

ACT came up marginally short when Gerrard made a sensational bust in the 13th minute, but he got the try he deserved two minutes later when a he chased down a Giteau chip kick only to grubber it through again before regathering and crashing over next to the posts.

After his long run he handed the kicking tee over to Giteau who had no trouble knocking over the easy conversion attempt (15-0).

Cats fly half Tiaan Snyman missed a chance to get his side on the score board when his penalty goal attempt drifted wide and while he was making his attempt Ashley-Cooper was forced from the field with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

The Brumbies attacking style was rewarded again on the half hour mark with fly half Stephen Larkham sending Stirling Mortlock through a yawning gap and the big centre flew over the 40 metres needed to go over untouched.

After a quick break Gerrard regained the kicking duties and put the home side further ahead at 22-0.

Another penalty goal from Gerrard sent the Brumbies into the main break with a 25-0 lead and he knocked over another one shortly after half time to further increase the home sides advantage.

The Cats were able to repel the Brumbies advances for close to 20 minutes, before the ACT looked to have cracked it for their bonus point try, but after a close inspection from the television match official it was denied much to the crowds chagrin.

The Brumbies continued to attack the Cats line without any success and then in the 78th minute totally against the run of play fullback Earl Rose toed a loose ball ahead and then easily regathered to race away and finally put the visitors on the board (28-7).

A final phase that extended three and a half minutes after the full time siren saw the crowd on it’s feet as both sides had chances to score, but it finally came to an end when referee Lyndon Bray spotted a forward pass and blew his whistle to finish the game.

“It was a huge disappointment at the start, but in the second half we started playing hard and getting the ball,” said Cats captain Wikus van Heerden.

ACT will face another South African foe next Saturday night when they take on the Sharks in Canberra, while the Cats will make the journey north to face the Waratahs in Sydney in a weeks time on Friday night.

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