Super Rugby: Brumbies still haunted by great choke of 2012

THE Brumbies plotted a six-week course to the Super Rugby final a fortnight ago, but the great choke of 2012 remains embedded in their psyche.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - MAY 29: Henry Speight of the Brumbies runs away to score a try during the round 16 Super Rugby match between the Brumbies and the Bulls at GIO Stadium on May 29, 2015 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Stefan Postles/Getty Images)

THE Brumbies plotted a six-week course to the Super Rugby final a fortnight ago, but the great choke of 2012 remains embedded in their psyche.

Stephen Larkham’s side, sixth on the ladder, will qualify for their third consecutive finals series if they defeat Western Force with a four-try bonus on Friday.

Even if they fail to score four tries but win, they’ll require a solitary point against the Crusaders in the final round to make the playoffs.

It seems inevitable that the Brumbies will be part of the finals in 2015, and while the plans have been drawn up to be playing in the premiership decider, prop Scott Sio said history has taught them to remained focussed on the Force.

“That’s the funny thing about rugby, thinking back to 2012, we were in a similar position and thought we would have it wrapped up in the second last round,” Sio said.

Just like this season, the Brumbies of 2012 needed five competition points from their final two games to qualify for the finals.

They defeated NSW 19-15 in the penultimate round, and needed just one point against the lowly Blues in Canberra in the final match.

The Brumbies crumbled to lose 30-16, and Queensland defeated NSW with a bonus point to snatch the Australian conference while Jake White’s team finished seventh on the ladder, and the meltdown has not been forgotten.

“We have a six-week plan, we worked it out in our bye week, want to be playing in the final, but for that to come to fruition we can’t lose focus of the task in front of us,” Sio said.

“We’ve got to be prepared for any situation of course, we could finish second and get that first week of the finals off, but we must win our remaining two games and our focus is just on making the top six.

“We know what we need to do against the Force, they’re a defensively good side and very hard on the ball.”

They Brumbies have a far better points differential than NSW, but crucially have one less win than their rivals. The win-loss record is the first factor when determining the final standing of two teams with the same amount of competition points.

Should both teams win their remaining two games and finish equal on competition points, the Tahs will claim top spot of the Australian conference courtesy of their extra win.

It will come down to minuscule moments in games like it did last weekend.

If the Brumbies had scored one more try against the Bulls, or of Lions five-eighth Elton Jantjies had slotted just one of the three penalties he missed in the final quarter against NSW, the Brumbies would be outright leaders of the conference.

Instead, the Brumbies missed out on the four-try bonus point, while NSW snagged one point for finishing within seven of the Lions, and retained top spot.

The Brumbies have lost Wallaby lock Sam Carter for the remainder of the season — his medial ligament knee injury is set to sideline him for three months.

The Tahs will be without their Wallaby lock Will Skelton (suspended) for this weekend’s clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, while hooker Tolu Latu is suspended for a further three weeks and Tatafu Polota-Nau (concussion) probably unavailable for another week.

The Brumbies’ 22-16 victory over the Bulls last Friday was just their second in their past four games.

“To get the win against a very tough Bulls side was the first step for ourselves [in the six-week plan], it is tight on points on the ladder,” Sio said.

“We can’t be worried about what the Waratahs are up to, we just need to win these next two games.”

Originally published as Super Rugby: Brumbies still haunted by great choke of 2012