Brumbies finish Super Rugby on top to guarantee home final

The Brumbies surged into the final of the Super Rugby AU competition with a hard-fought 31-14 victory over the Western Force at GIO Stadium.

Brumbies winger Andy Muirhead scores a try against the Western Force at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Picture: Getty Images

Referee Amy Perrett made a couple of crucial calls, including disallowing a driving maul try by the Brumbies because of obstruction, but the Canberra side surged into the final of the Super Rugby AU competition with a hard-fought 31-14 victory over the Western Force at GIO Stadium last night.

The first female ever to control a match of this standard in the southern hemisphere, Perrett kept a tight control on proceedings, handing out 30 penalties including a series of full-arm rulings against the Force scrum before it had even engaged at the death. But, with the TMO’s help, she also disallowed three Brumbies tries, including one right at the depth because flanker Will Miller had joined the driving maul ahead of the ball carrier, thereby causing obstruction.

At one point she could even be heard to exclaim, “If you can keep the chat down a little, you might be able to hear me better.”

Brumbies fullback Tom Banks scores his first try of the Super Rugby AU season. Picture: Getty Images

Still, a torrid, physical match never tipped over into anything nasty as Perrett calmly ticked off yet another refereeing first in impressive fashion.

A five-tries-to-two victory sounds impressive – particularly with so many tries disallowed – and in the end the Brumbies managed to secure an unnecessary bonus point because a win alone ensured they will host the Super Rugby AU final in Canberra on September 19. But this was no cakewalk as the Force led right up to the 39th minute and with only 18 minutes remaining on the clock they trailed only 17-14 after five-eighth Jono Lance had forced his way over for a well-earned 56th minute try.

Those were to be the last points the Perth side would score and from the moment that Brumbies coach Dan McKellar ordered three Wallabies off the bench and into the contest – loosehead Scott Sio, hooker Folau Fainga’a and halfback Nic White –— not to mention Wallaby-in-the-making, flanker Rob Valentini — it was more than the Force could match.

“I was really impressed,” said Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa of his finishers. “We had some quality players coming off the bench and they had a huge injection. We scored points almost straight away. That’s a great effort from the bench and something for us to continue to build on.”

Referee Amy Perrett calls a penalty against the Brumbies at GIO Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

The Brumbies’ match against the Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium next weekend will have no bearing on the No 1 position but there is no doubt McKellar would want his side going into that contest in full battle mode. The Reds have fought two epic contests with the Brumbies this year in Canberra, once in Super Rugby, once in the all-Australian Super Rugby AU, the last one won only in extra time. Given their respective standings on the table, this could well be a dress rehearsal for the title-decider.

Twice in the opening seven minutes the Force spurned easy shots at penalty goal to chase maximum points by kicking to the corner and finally in the ninth minute Fergus Lee-Warner, a flanker last night but a possible second-row contender for Dave Rennie’s Wallabies, muscled his way between the two rival Brumbies props, Alaalatoa and James Slipper, to ground the

ball for the opening try.

Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

But when the momentum finally swung following a burst of five straight Force penalties, the Brumbies slowly began to work their way into the game. Two tries were disallowed in the space of a minute but the Brumbies were working themselves up to full steam and not many teams can stay with them once that happens.

Finally they crossed for a legitimate try, even if the build-up was somewhat lacklustre as the Force allowed a Lance garryowen to bounce and Brumbies outside centre Solomone Kata released Miller who in turn passed out wide for winger Tom Wright to score his ninth try of the season. And almost on the stroke of halftime fullback Tom Banks finally got over for his long-delayed first try in the competition as he swept onto a Bayley Kuenzle pass and shed the would-be tackle of Marcel Brache.

Yet Force coach Tim Sampson had drilled his players to put in maximum effort in the opening minutes of both halves – when the Brumbies habitually score – and while they could not prevent Miller from scoring out wide from a lighting pass from White at the ruckbase, they surged back courtesy of the Lance touchdown.

It was the injection of real talent off the bench that finally broke the contest wide open but yet again the Force could console themselves with a full-hearted 80 minute display, one that gave no hint that the Perth side has been on the road since early July.