Super Rugby finals review: Brumbies set up blockbuster clash with Waratahs; Sharks progress

IT’S the dream showdown. A third clash between the Waratahs and Brumbies with a spot in the final on offer. Saturday can’t come quickly enough.

Nic White of ACT if tackled by Kane Douglas of NSW. NSW Waratahs Vs ACT Brumbies Saturday 28th June 2014. Pic: Mitch Cameron

THE opening weekend of the Super Rugby playoffs produced two thrilling encounters with home sides the Brumbies and Sharks living to fight another day.

The Chiefs and Highlanders were gutsy in defeat with both sides pushing their more fancied rivals right up until the final whistle.

But it wasn’t to be for the visitors with the Brumbies booking themselves a derby decider against the Waratahs, and the Sharks earning the right to face the Crusaders.

Read on for a full review of the weekend’s qualifying finals and a look ahead to Saturday’s upcoming action.

DERBY DECIDER SET TO BE AN ABSOLUTE CLASSIC

The first two rounds stand at one apiece but there will be no split decision in the Waratahs-Brumbies rivalry in 2014 with the two sides set to meet in a blockbuster semi-final at Allianz Stadium.

It’s a promoters dream. The latest instalment of one of Australian rugby’s fiercest rivalries with a spot in the Super Rugby final for the winner. Awesome.

Their two previous encounters this season have largely been one-sided affairs. In Canberra in round five it was all the Brumbies, the hosts racing out of the blocks to build an early lead before the Waratahs added some respectability to the 28-23 scoreline with a couple of late tries. That was also the evening Waratahs coach Michael Cheika lost his cool, a little more so than usual.

But it was all the Waratahs in the return clash in Sydney, this year’s minor premiers whipping an under-strength Brumbies outfit 39-7 at ANZ Stadium in the first round after the international break.

The last time two Aussie sides faced off in the semi-finals was way back in 2002 with, you guessed it, the Waratahs and Brumbies meeting at this weekend’s venue – Allianz Stadium.

It was the visitors who triumphed on that occasion in a thumping 51-10 victory, a result that confined the Waratahs to their second straight flogging following a 96-19 loss to the Crusaders.

A similar scoreline this time around is highly unlikely however with both teams playing their best rugby of the season. The Waratahs are riding a seven-match winning streak while Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen described his side’s 32-30 win over the Chiefs at the weekend as “the best performance of the last three years”.

So the two great rivals will face off in front of what should be a bumper crowd with a spot in the final on offer for the winner. And with both sides playing some brilliant attacking rugby it has all the makings of an absolute belter.

Saturday can’t come quickly enough.

YELLOW FEVER BUT JOUBERT DESERVES A RAP

Saturday night’s Super Rugby qualifying final between the Brumbies and Chiefs was one of the finest playoffs encounters for some time and much of that was down to referee Craig Joubert.

No need for a double take – you read that right. Joubert’s decision to sin-bin Tim Nanai-Williams after just five minutes may have been a little harsh but in fairness to the South African, the Brumbies were hard on the attack.

The hosts made the most of the one-man advantage to score two tries and build a 14-3 lead, an advantage they extended to 21-3 after Nanai-Williams had returned.

And while the Chiefs had cause to feel a little hard done by, Joubert showed he was exactly what coaches, players and fans alike expect of their referees – consistent.

When Henry Speight was ruled to be off his feet at the breakdown with the Chiefs hard on the attack Joubert stuck to his guns and sent the Brumbies winger for a 10-minute breather.

The result this time around? Two tries to the Chiefs and game back on.

They were two gutsy calls from Joubert but most importantly he was consistent.

The game was eventually decided with both teams at full capacity, with Aaron Cruden’s unsuccessful conversion seeing the Brumbies advance to the second week of the playoffs.

Joubert had a positive impact on the match, and the players and spectators both benefited.

Bravo, Craig.

POWER, SPEED AND STRENGTH - HENRY HAS THEM IN SPEIGHTS

13 runs, 183 metres, 13 tackle busts and two linebreaks. Take a bow, Henry Speight. You are extraordinary.

Forgetting his yellow card for just a few moments, Speight’s incredible game against the Chiefs has to be among the season’s best individual performances and one that has Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie frothing at the mouth.

The Brumbies winger created all sorts of headaches for the Chiefs backs, opposite number James Lowe in particular, as he fended, stepped and spun his way in and around the defensive line.

Speight’s decision to shun the Chiefs and potentially the All Blacks was detailed by the Daily Telegraph’s Jamie Pandaram on Saturday, with the big winners set to be the Wallabies.

The Chiefs’ two-year title reign is over.

The Fijian flyer will be eligible for Australia from September with McKenzie almost certain to rush him straight into the starting side for the clash with Argentina two days later.

Folks on the Gold Coast would be wise to get a ticket for the Cbus Super Stadium clash - you might just see one of the great Test debuts of all time.

LEALIIFANO’S GOALKICKING PUT UNDER SPOTLIGHT

He owes his captain some beers but does Christian Lealiifano have more to worry about when it comes to his goalkicking?

The Brumbies sharp-shooter – who built up a deserved reputation last season for his clutch kicking – has yet to readjust his radar in a 2014 season disrupted by injury.

Lealiifano nailed a respectable five-from-eight attempts against the Chiefs, and we’re certainly not about to sink the boot into him.

But two misses from seemingly easy spots during the second half suggested all was still not right.

Teammate Nic White wasn’t concerned by the misses, however. The Brumbies halfback, next in line for the goalkicking duties, quipped after the two-point win that Lealiifano “obviously knew we didn’t need it”.

“We call him “Ice Cold” Christian Lealiifano,” White added.

“He’s shown before (that) under pressure he’ll do it easy. I’m sure if there’s a crunch-time conversion he’ll hit it next week.”

Meanwhile Lealiifano will have to shout Ben Mowen three schooners after the Brumbies captain last week revealed he had told his goalkicker he owed him a beer for every attempt he missed.

SHARKS WIN UP FRONT TO SURGE INTO SEMIS

There was little in it, but in the end the Sharks’ power game prevailed over the Highlanders’ run-run-run mantra to keep the club’s elusive hunt for a Super Rugby title alive.

Unsurprisingly Jake White’s side built its game plan for the Kings Park clash around set-piece dominance. The world’s best hooker – Bismarck du Plessis – led the charge for the Sharks and was backed up by powerhouse performances from back-rowers Marcell Coetzee and Ryan Kankowski as well as Jean Deysel off the bench.

Winning the battle up front proved crucial, as the Sharks were able to convert their dominance into enough points – either through Frans Steyn penalty goals, including the winner, or tries to du Plessis from a tight-head scrum, and Coetzee from a rolling maul – to edge past the Highlanders 31-27.

The worrying sign for the Sharks was the way in which their defensive line was repeatedly broken by the likes of Ben Smith, Malakai Fekitoa and Patrick Osborne. They’ll have little let-up this weekend when they come up against Israel Dagg and Nemani Nadolo with a certain Dan Carter pulling the strings.

“We’ve really got to work hard on our defence this week if we want to go further in this competition,” du Plessis said after the match.

The Sharks have already beaten the Crusaders in Christchurch this season – a gutsy 30-25 victory in May when they played with 14 men for the majority of the match following Deysel’s red card for stamping – and also knocked over the Waratahs in Durban.

That fact his side has knocked over two of the remaining three contenders wasn’t lost on du Plessis - but he also wasn’t getting carried away.

“I won’t say it’s easy. I will say we do take confidence in that,” du Plessis said.

BEATEN BRIGADE BOW OUT ON HIGH

A total of 14 tries, 120 points and a combined margin of less than seven points – we were certainly spoiled on the opening round of the Super Rugby finals series.

And while it might be scant consolation, the two losing sides – the Chiefs and Highlanders - deserve high praise for the roles they played in two instant classics.

The Chiefs were “shell-shocked”, to borrow co-captain Aaron Cruden’s words, early on at GIO Stadium when they were blown off the park by the Brumbies. The back-to-back champions regrouped and produced a rousing fightback, spearheaded by the classy Cruden and brutal Bundee Aki, that only fell short when the flyhalf’s late conversion attempt from the sideline sailed wide.

That miss proved the difference – and ended the Chiefs’ hopes of a Super Rugby three-peat – but it doesn’t take away from what was a courageous comeback by a team that looked in all sorts of trouble when trailing 22-3.

Malakai Fekitoa (C) and Ben Smith (R) ran the Sharks ragged.

The Chiefs’ gallant performance was followed by a similarly epic effort in Durban from the Highlanders, who were given little hope of knocking off South Africa’s Sharks.

Led by the brilliant Ben Smith, the south islanders ignored the naysayers and very nearly pulled off one of the great upsets with a brilliant display of attacking rugby that had Sharks captain Bismarck du Plessis in awe after the game.

“The Highlanders ran us to pieces at some stages. Their outside backs and their whole backline was absolutely amazing,” he said.

Smith, who played a hand in all three of his side’s tries, sparked one of the best five-pointers of the season to give his side the lead at half-time, taking a quick tap near his own try-line after the hooter had already sounded.

Sadly for the Highlanders their set-piece woes proved fatal, with the Sharks dominating particularly at scrum time to squeeze into the semi-finals. But hats off to both beaten finalists.

Originally published as Super Rugby finals review: Brumbies set up blockbuster clash with Waratahs; Sharks progress