Brumbies may pay dearly for Christian Lealiifano’s error against Stormers

IN A tight conference, Christian Lealiifano’s missed conversion that saw the Brumbies lose to the Stormers could have serious consequences.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - MAY 09: David Pocock of the Brumbies react to the referees call during the Super Rugby match between DHL Stormers and Brumbies at DHL Newlands Stadium on May 09, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)

WITH just five rounds remaining in the regular season, Christian Lealiifano’s shock missed conversion which cost the Brumbies victory against the Stormers could have far-reaching consequences.

The Australian conference’s top three sides are now separated by just four points, and the third-placed Melbourne Rebels have emerged as a genuine contender for the conference championship.

The Brumbies are in the midst of their South African tour, while NSW (second) and Melbourne still have their trips to come, and the Australian winner could very well be determined in the final round when Melbourne host Western Force, the Brumbies face the Crusaders, and the Waratahs play the Reds.

“We know our backs are against the wall now,” Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.

“We’ve got 33 points in the competition, you’ve got to get to roughly 50 points, we’re going to have to win everything from here.”

David Pocock scored a try in the 70th minute of the spiteful match in Cape Town, and ran the ball closer in to the posts, making the score 25-24 in favour of the Stormers.

Lealiifano, who had kicked four from four up to that attempt, put the ball straight into the left upright.

The Stormers withheld a late flurry of attacking raids from the Brumbies to hold on for the one-point victory, although even after the full-time siren players from both sides exchanged shoves and heated words, which had been a feature throughout the match.

“We knew the Stormers were going to be very physical with their ball carries, ball in play, and we spoke about not being intimidated by any of it,” Larkham said

“When some of stuff happened off the ball, it was good to see that we stepped forward and looked after our mates.”

He added of the loss: “That’s one of five that have got away this year, we’ve lost four games by less than five points this year, and we certainly had our opportunities to win them.

“Christian will be very disappointed with his kick there at the end which would have put us one point up.”

Brumbies skipper Stephen Moore said Lealiifano was not to blame for the defeat.

“I feel for him, he does a lot of work on his goalkicking, and as Bernie said he will be very disappointed to miss that, but there were other opportunities in the game that we missed and we certainly won’t be looking at that as the reason we didn’t win,” Moore said.

“We’ll need to get around Christian. He will take that pretty hard, he is a senior member of the playing group and we will support him this week, and try to move on quickly.

“That’s what you have to do, we can’t dwell on it.”

The Brumbies face another tough assignment this weekend, taking on the resurgent Lions in Johannesburg.

Despite being two competition points behind the Brumbies, the Lions have won one more game than the Canberra side so far this season, and have won four straight matches at home.

Originally published as Brumbies may pay dearly for Christian Lealiifano’s error against Stormers