Super Rugby: Brumbies beat Waratahs in final round match

DARYL Gibson blasted his Waratahs players for looking ahead to the finals after they were soundly beaten 40-31 by the Brumbies in their final round match in Sydney.

Isi Naisarani of the Brumbies launches himself over the tryline against the Waratahs on Saturday night.

UPDATE: DARYL Gibson blasted his Waratahs players for looking ahead to the finals after they were soundly beaten 40-31 by the Brumbies in their final round match in Sydney on Saturday night.

Having already secured a home quarter-final by winning the Australian conference last week, NSW blundered their way to defeat against a powerhouse Brumbies side showing skill and power lacking for most of the season.

Furious NSW coach Gibson said his side had “soft efforts” and was mentally cruising into the playoff match rather than concentrating on their Canberra foes.

GAME GONE SOFT: Rival coaches left shaking their heads

“What you saw tonight was a team that was not focused on the job at hand, and getting ahead of itself in terms of already being in next week,” Gibson said.

“As a coach it’s disappointing because that’s my responsibility, to make sure we’re focusing on the job at hand.”

The Brumbies were already aware before kick-off that they could no longer make the finals after the Melbourne Rebels had secured a bonus point in their loss to the Highlanders earlier in the day.

SEE MATCH ANALYSIS BELOW

Isi Naisarani of the Brumbies launches himself over the tryline against the Waratahs on Saturday night.

The ACT side played with freedom and flair, while NSW seemed debilitated by their circumstance.

The loss at Allianz Stadium meant they did not know if they finished second or third, and whether they’d face the ominous Highlanders team from New Zealand or one of the African conference sides until the early hours of Sunday morning when other games had finished.

Injured skipper Michael Hooper will not recover from his hamstring injury in time for the quarter at Allianz Stadium.

“Hoops wasn’t the factor tonight, the referee wasn’t the factor tonight, the factor tonight was 15 men not turning up ready to be urgent, display that attitude and effort that has been very good this year, tonight it just wasn’t,” Gibson said.

Waratahs star Kurtley Beale is tackled on Saturday night.

“There were some soft efforts there [in defence], we’ll have to look at the tape and be disappointed with some of the effort there, particularly in the tackle and then post the tackle in terms of our urgency to find our line again.

“Plenty to work on, but I think a lot of that work is between our ears.”

This was a wasted opportunity and the match exposed concerning weaknesses in the NSW team.

The Brumbies dominated collisions, went through their midfield defence, forced scrum penalties and lineout turnovers, and controlled the ball better.

These are all of the key areas that playoff games are won and lost.

Brumbies centre Kyle Godwin scored one of the best individual tries of the season in the 48th minute.

The Ireland-bound centre took the ball in his own half, stepped inside Nick Phipps and Kurtley Beale to break clear in midfield, chipped over Israel Folau, regathered the bouncing ball and dived over the line to give his side a 33-10 lead.

Taqele Naiyaravoro became just the fourth man in Super Rugby history to score 15 tries in one season, following Joe Roff, Rico Gear and Ngani Laumape, when he crossed in the 52nd minute.

Will Miller’s 50-metre intercept try in the 73rd minute brought the score back to 33-22, giving Tahs fans an inklin of hope.

But moments later Tevita Kuridrani made a break, put a chip over the top of Folau and replacement winger Lausii Taliauli grabbed the bouncing ball and raced away to seal victory for the Brumbies despite a try on the siren to Tahs replacement Brad Wilkin.

Wharenui Hawera of the Brumbies celebrates a try.

It took just three minutes for the Brumbies to cross, when Tom Banks scooped up a loose pass from Curtis Rona near his own line and sprinted 90 metres for a try.

Bernard Foley put his side on the board in the 10th with a penalty, but the Brumbies were 21-3 in front by the 20th minute after two impressive tries through the middle of NSW’s defence.

First Ritchie Arnold crossed after interplay between Christian Lealiifano, Joe Powell and Nic Mayhew set free the big lock.

Then No.8 Isi Naisarani swan-dived under the posts after being set up by Arnold.

Brumbies hooker Folau Faingaa was sin-binned in the 26th minute for killing the ball after a Tahs rolling maul was pulled short of the line.

NSW finally took advantage of their extra man when Ned Hanigan took a pick-and-go from a ruck and offloaded to hooker Damien Fitzpatrick who scored the try in the 32nd minute.

But poor defence by the Tahs allowed Brumbies winger Andrew Muirhead to race 50 metres to score just moments later.

A clearing kick was taken by Banks, who found Muirhead out wide. The speedster cut through Rob Simmons and Nick Phipps and outpaced the covering Folau to score an outstanding try.

The visitors held their 26-10 lead at the break.

Winger Henry Speight played strongly until he was sidelined with a leg injury shortly before halftime, while Naisarani also hobbled off before the break.

BRUMBIES 40 (Richie Arnold, Tom Banks, Kyle Godwin, Andrew Muirhead, Isireli Naisarani, Lausii Taliauli tries Christian Leali’ifano 4, Wharenui Hawera cons) NSW WARATAHS 31 (Damien Fitzpatrick, Will Miller, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Brad Wilkin tries Bernard Foley 4 cons pen) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Angus Gardner

Train wreck performance will do nothing for Waratahs’ confidence

IT’S little wonder the Waratahs are getting so good at retrieving their own kick offs. As the old idiom goes, practice makes perfect and the Tahs have done so many re-starts lately they’ve become as slick as a Formula One pit crew.

If they turn in another performance like Saturday night’s lacklustre effort against the Brumbies, they might get a few more chances to practice their kick offs, but can forget about winning the Super Rugby title.

In practical terms, the loss to the Brumbies doesn’t mean a whole lot because they’d already locked up a home quarter-final but in terms of building the team’s confidence heading into the playoffs, it was a train wreck of a performance.

Unable to qualify for the finals after the Rebels picked up a consolation bonus point in their loss to the Highlanders, the Brumbies really had nothing to play for other than the chance to halt the momentum and self-belief their arch rivals had built up since the June test window.

Brumbies players celebrate a try on Saturday night.

They did that, and much more, exposing the alarming deficiencies in the Waratahs’ game that their finals’ opponents will already be hatching plans to exploit.

The Waratahs might be one the best attacking teams in Super Rugby with their star-studded backline but that counts for absolutely nothing when they fall down on the two key areas that normally decide the outcome of most matches: the forward battle and defence.

No-one doubts the courage of their pack but heart can’t always overcome size and the Tahs’ have one of the smallest sets of forwards in Super Rugby. To ram home the point, the Brumbies picked the towering Arnold twins, Rory and Richie, and it was telling from the get-go. They destroyed the Waratahs at the lineout and the rest of the house soon collapsed.

The most glaring problem Daryl Gibson now needs to fix in a hurry is the Waratahs’ defence after the Brumbies opened them up, all too easily. Time is short but it could be a very brief playoff campaign if they can’t plug those holes.

- Julian Linden

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Originally published as Super Rugby: Brumbies beat Waratahs in final round match