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Australia's Super Rugby Trans-Tasman misery continues as Blues thump Brumbies in Auckland

(Photo by MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP via Getty Images)

The Brumbies have unravelled after building a promising lead to fall to the Blues 38-10 in Auckland on Saturday.

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Hooker Connal McInerney scored from a Brumbies maul to turn a period of dominance into a 10-7 lead with five minutes to play in the first half at Eden Park.

But they went to the break down 17-10, a penalty after a sloppy restart followed by a weaving try to Finlay Christie that exposed some flaky defence close to the line.

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The Blues didn’t give Dan McKellar’s men a sniff in the second half, AJ Lam’s try with 20 minutes to play creating a 31-10 lead before Folau Fainga’a was yellow-carded after continuous Brumbies infringements.

Halfback Nic White completed a successful return from injury, engineering a crafty assault of the short-priced favourites in the first half.

They played close to the lines to expose the Blues’ line-out and build momentum from their scrum.

That helped the Brumbies overcome an opening try to the Blues that came a fter a head-scratching line-out penalty that had everyone confused.

But the Brumbies then allowed the red-headed Christie to duck and dive between five Brumbies close to the line, the visitors finished with 31 missed tackles as the Blues also dominated the breakdown.

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“He looked like a ginger running from the sun looking for shade,” Blues captain Tom Robinson told the broadcast post-game.

“He’s such an awesome dude and it was a huge moment; that little win there got us that momentum.

“In the first half we let them in through what we call dumb-arse penalties … and we sorted them out in the second half.”

It completed a tough slog of three games across the Tasman since their gutting loss to the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby AU final.

Blues 38 (Tries to Kurt Eklund, Finlay Christie, Bryce Heem, AJ Lamand TJ Faiane; 4 conversions and penalty to Otere Black, penalty to Harry Plummer)

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Brumbies 10 (Try to Connal McInerney; conversion and penalty to Noah Lolesio; yellow card to Folau Fainga’a)

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R
RedWarrior 1 hour ago
Three-way race to be number one in World Rugby men's rankings

IF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.


As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.


Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).

This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.

If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.

Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.

After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.

Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.


Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)

Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.

Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.


Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.


Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:


Seeding Band 1

IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG

Seeding Band 2

SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: FIJI

1/8 final opponent GEORGIA

Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA

1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND

Prognosis: You know the prognosis


I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?


Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.

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LONG READ
LONG READ England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit
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