Brumbies’ rope-a-dope master plan to beat Reds

Much of Queensland’s confidence going into the Super Rugby AU final was built on a defeat of the Brumbies but the Reds may have been duped into buying fool’s gold.

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar is doused by Powerade after the final siren at GIO Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

Much of Queensland’s confidence going into Saturday’s Super Rugby AU final was built on their final round 26-7 defeat of the Brumbies at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, but the Reds may have been duped into buying fool’s gold.

The Reds were not faultless that day, September 5, but they clearly outplayed a Brumbies side that had already qualified in the No 1 position to earn the right to host the final in Canberra. Their defeat that day was put down to the fact they had nothing to play for.

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“No one will remember tonight in a couple of weeks,” was McKellar’s prophetic assessment of the Suncorp battle.

In fact, the Brumbies tried hard that night. But they were trying hard to beat the Reds at their own game. Come the title-decider at Canberra’s GIO Stadium on Saturday night, they reverted to their own game.

“We spent a lot of work on setting a really clear strategy and game plan and I think for the most part we executed it really well,” said coach Dan McKellar of the Brumbies’ grand final performance. “We drew a different picture up in Brisbane, knowing we would play differently in the grand final.”

Brumbies fullback Tom Banks scores a try in the second half

So it was a deliberate strategy? “Yeah, there was the thought that we would play with a little more width, side-to-side rugby.”

Which was deliberately playing into Queensland’s hands, was it not? “We knew we would be a lot more direct in the grand final.”

Masterful as the plan might have been, the Brumbies may have wasted it on Queensland even though they came away with the desired result, a well-deserved if hard-fought 28-23 victory.

The Reds saved arguably their worst performances of the season for the grand final, turning in an even more miserable performance than when they lost 45-12 to NSW in Sydney on August 8. That night their heads were simply not in the game, following the sudden death of Jordan Petaia’s father a few days earlier. But they returned home, refocused, and did not lost another match – until Saturday.

The Reds pride themselves on being such a young team but for much of the grand final they played headless chook, schoolboy-style rugby, letting their enthusiasm cloud their judgment. Certainly coach Brad Thorn would feel they did not do justice to the rugby they have played in recent weeks.

Three times they conceded penalties from their own kick-offs – in the fifth minute when lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto tackled Brumbies winger Andy Muirhead in the air, in the 19th minute when winger Filipo Daugunu hit Lachie McCaffrey high, and then again in the 49th minute when Daugunu really unloaded on the Brumbies flanker, lifting him above the horizontal and dumping him into the turf. Despite referee Angus Gardner’s initial “it’s only a penalty”, sanity prevailed and Daugunu was yellow carded.

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar and Irae Simone of the Brumbies celebrate winning the Super Rugby AU grand final

The Reds’ lineout was a shambles throughout. Yet still they remained in the fight and, at 28-23 down in the 73rd minute, were granted a penalty within easy range of the posts. Even McKellar expected them to take the points and then turn the final five minutes into a frenzy but captain Liam Wright gambled everything, kicked to the corner — and promptly lost yet another lineout.

It was arguably his only bad decision of the night. Somehow he had managed to keep his out-of-sorts team in the contest but it would have been a travesty had not the Brumbies finally prevailed.

McKellar was full of praise for his backrow trio of McCaffrey, Will Miller and Pete Samu who challenged Queensland where they were strongest, while also singling out lock Cadeyrn Neville who ended up playing mind games with the Reds lineout jumpers. But his most fulsome praise was saved for 20-year-old Noah Lolesio who made light of his seven-week absence because of a hamstring injury.

“He has a lot of skill and talent and ability but his real strength is between the ears,” McKellar said. “He doesn’t get rattled by mistakes. It is such a rare trait, to be able to park mistakes or errors and just move on to the next thing.”

Queensland’s casualties from the match, Petaia (hip flexor) and Salakaia-Loto (concussion), both are expected to fly today to the Hunter Valley where the Wallabies will be in camp until they fly out to Christchurch on Friday for their training camp prior to the October 11 Test against the All Blacks.