Brumbies lose fear and find their freedom

The Brumbies scored a decisive come from behind victory in Pretoria yesterday with just 14 men.

Brumbies fullback Ton Banks is chased by Bulls halfback Ivan van Zyl in Pretora. Picture: AFP.

For so many Super Rugby teams, travelling to South Africa is one of the most difficult tasks in the game, but for the Brumbies their visit to the republic has been the making of Dan McKellar’s young side.

The Brumbies scored a decisive come-from-behind victory in Pretoria yesterday with just 14 men after hooker Folau Fainga’a farcically was sent off for what was described as a headbutt, downing the Bulls 38-28 at Loftus Versfeld.

The win came on the back of a disappointing 42-24 defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg last week where they again were reduced to 14 men for the final quarter. But where the Brumbies tightened up after the loss of Rory Arnold in that match, there were no such ­inhibitions when Fainga’a was red-carded yesterday.

The irony was the 23-year-old hooker was turning in a performance that could well see him chosen on Wednesday in the Wallabies squad, quite possibly in company with his front-rowers Scott Sio and Allan Alaalatoa who utterly dominated the Bulls scrum. That is, of course, if the SANZAAR judiciary decides that the 19 minutes he missed of the Bulls game is punishment enough.

“Hopefully common sense prevails,” McKellar told The Australian yesterday. “We’re all about protecting players and looking after their welfare but this was a nothing incident.”

Like Fainga’a, fullback Tom Banks also would have caught ­Michael Cheika’s eye for the second week running. After scoring a double against the Lions last week, he scored a scorching 60m try in Pretoria, dramatically showcasing his extraordinary speed. But more pleasing to ­McKellar was the fact that Banks repeatedly tidied up ball virtually on his own tryline, using his pace and strength to break free of tackles that, had they been made, would have placed the Brumbies under enormous pressure.

“I think he will play Test football,” said McKellar. “It’s not for me to say whether he’s ready or not but I do know he still has a lot of development left in him and I’d like to see him given time to ­develop his footy.”

For the first time this season, the Brumbies are playing as ­McKellar envisaged at the start of the season. For the 60 minutes against the Lions, when they were at full strength, and again for the entire 80 minutes against the Bulls, they played with a freedom and conviction they hadn’t shown back in Australia. Even Wallabies Test centre Tevita Kuridrani, whose rugby has been curiously curtailed this year, was back to something approximating his best.

“The message I was giving them was to play with freedom,” McKellar said. “Don’t be afraid. We’re really happy with their ­progression as a team.”

Coincidentally — or perhaps not — that’s precisely the same message that Dave Wessels has been preaching to the Melbourne Rebels in recent weeks. While their win in Canberra over the Brumbies was one that owed itself more to the individual character of the players, the victory on ­Friday night against the Sunwolves was more in keeping with how Wessels wants to see the team perform. Now that they are just one point behind the Waratahs in the race for the Australian conference title, the turnaround could not have been better timed.

“What I wanted was for us to be brave and enjoy our rugby,” said Wessels.

“At one point in the season we felt our discipline was getting away from us and we lost a bit of our line speed. We all felt that just wasn’t us.”

Wallabies halfback Will Genia is back from injury this week and available for selection, but Michael Ruru has played well in his absence in recent weeks.