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Brumbies hold firm to see off Stormers in crucial away win

Brumbies full-back Thomas Banks challenges for the ball against the Stormers.

A gutsy defensive effort has seen the ACT Brumbies record a stunning 19-17 Super Rugby victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.

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Seeking their first away win of the season, the Brumbies made the most of their rare visits into Stormers’ territory with three tries then pulled off a massive 226 tackles to come out on top at DHL Newlands.

Captain Christian Lealiifano described the Brumbies’ performance as “an incredible effort from our group”.

“(The Stormers) just kept us under pressure the whole time and we couldn’t really unlock our backline the way we wanted,” Lealiifano said.

“We had to find other ways and our defence was that today, we took our opportunities today when we did get them and the boys definitely saved some as well.”

In a controversial end to the first half, a video review after the halftime whistle saw a penalty try awarded to the Stormers with Brumbies winger Toni Pulu earning a yellow card for a high tackle on halfback Herschel Jantjies.

The ruling reduced the Brumbies’ advantage to 12-10 with the Stormers taking their first lead early in the second half but Tom Banks put the visitors back in front after 58 minutes and their defence stood tall under immense pressure to close out a famous victory.

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The result gives the Brumbies back-to-back wins as they move within reach of the Rebels and Waratahs in the Australian conference ahead of next week’s trip to Argentina to play the Jaguares.

Lock Rory Arnold handed the Brumbies a flying start, setting up Pete Samu for the opening try then scoring one of his own from a charge down as they jumped out to an early 12-3 lead.

It appeared that all the Stormers would tally from the first half was a ninth-minute penalty goal to Joshua Stander after passing on multiple chances to kick more points in favour of attacking the Brumbies’ line.

But that changed on the stroke of halftime after Pulu’s high tackle on Jantjies’ 30-metre dash to the line was deemed to deny a legitimate try-scoring opportunity. The Stormers made the most of their one-man advantage to start the second half with Wilco Louw barging over to put the home side in front.

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A try-saving tackle from Henry Speight prevented the Stormers from extending their advantage before the Brumbies cashed in again, running through 12 phases for an unmarked Tom Banks to score.

Lealiifano landed the conversion as the Brumbies regained the lead at 19-17 while Stander’s penalty miss in the 62nd minute proved costly in the final washup.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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