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'A lot of courage': Brumbies 'pleased' with hard-fought Super Round win

(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Playing on a hot afternoon in Melbourne, the Brumbies showed plenty of “courage” throughout their hard-fought win over recent rivals the Blues in Super Round.

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It didn’t come easy, as both teams worked tirelessly at Melbourne’s AAMI Park.

Both teams had given it their all throughout two very different halves. After scoring 45-points between them in the first-half, the Blues and Brumbies were kept scoreless after the break.

The scoreless second-half set up a titanic finish, as the Blues unleashed one last attack on the Brumbies defensive line – but ultimately came up short.

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The game was over, the Brumbies had won, and all the effort that they’d shown throughout the clash had paid off for last year’ semi-finalists.

You could see it on the faces of their players as the full-time whistle sounded; sheer euphoria as they began to celebrate the win.

As for the Blues, they were left to rue missed chances, as they fell to a 1-1 record to start the season.

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Brumbies captain James Slipper praised the “courage” his teammates showed, but insisted that it’s only round two “so we’ll move on.”

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“Obviously pleased with the result. There was a lot of courage out there today,” Slipper told reporters.

“It was a hot day so we knew it was going to be a tough ask.

“The first-half, there was a lot of attack, plenty of tries, then that second-half was all character, it was about hanging in the moment and competing hard.

“We’re very pleased with the result but it’s round two so we’ll move on.”

The Brumbies took an early lead via the boot of goal-kicking halfback Ryan Lonergan.

But the Blues, who had two players yellow carded inside the opening 10 minutes, managed to snatch back the lead through a try to hooker Ricky Riccitelli.

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The first-half proved to be nothing short of an arm-wrestle – much like the second.

Head coach Stephen Larkham echoed his skippers thoughts on the “courage” the team showed, as they kept their unbeaten start to the season alive following the first two rounds of the season.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into the start of a campaign this year and just really pleased with how hard that game was and how hard our guys pushed,” Larkham said.

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“It was physical up front, there was a bit of a set-piece battle there at times, there was good breakdown pressure at times.

“Certainly very difficult defensively for us to continually get up with their big bodies coming at us.

“I was blown away by the amount of physicality and courage that our boys had out there today.

“We’re going out to play a certain way and the Blues went out to play a certain way, and sometimes It doesn’t eventuate for whatever reason,” he added.

“Today we were faced with that, we were faced with a situation where we didn’t quite to play the way we wanted to play, but we found a way to win.

“That’s something that we also want to see in this team is obviously there’s a style we want to play with but we also need a lot of heart and we saw that tonight.”

After playing in Melbourne this weekend, the Brumbies will return home to Canberra where they’ll take on Australian rivals the Queensland Reds on Saturday.

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1 Comment
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Andrew 850 days ago

I think Barrett was secretly playing for the Brumbies.

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AllyOz 39 minutes ago
How the Lions found their roar, and disproved a popular Australian theory

The games so far have been compelling and competitive until the 50th minute. The Lions have been tested to that point, but always, in my mind, looked to be dominant at the ruck and more dangerous out wide. Both the Reds and the Force have hung in there but there has always been a feeling of when not if the Lions will overpower them. I also think that Russell is a huge point of difference. Against him at the Force we had an inexperienced NZ import, and at the Reds, their second best 10 in Harry Mclaughlin-Phillips (paired with their second best 9 in Kalani Thomas). I think the Force would have been better starting Donaldson at 10 and it was a mistake for the Reds (and the Wallabies) not to play McDermott and Lynagh - play someone else against Fiji and give those two some exposure to the Lions (though I understand Lynagh may still be injured so maybe won’t be available for either game).


For me, we don’t have the depth, particularly in the halves and the front rows. You noticed it most against the Force and a little against the Reds.


When we are replacing our players at 50 we are replacing them with players that are not good enough to make the run on team on a team that finished 9th or 5th in Super Rugby. When the Lions make their replacements they are replacing them with run on players from the nations that are 3rd, 4th and 6th ranked in world rugby.


But, looking at your figures Nic, it doesn’t appear that it is a new problem. And I have a solution for future Australian tours. And that is, make future tours to Australia an Oceania tour. In the lead up the Lions wouldn’t play a team like Argentina before they leave but, on the way would play Japan, Fiji, Samoa or Tonga and/or a Pasifika selection - the best of their available test players - with this last game played in Australia (maybe Townsville). We would have less games here - perhaps not all the SR clubs or perhaps not the AUNZ and Pasifika selection (which is only really there because we lost the Melbourne Rebels).


Some of those tests against other Pacific Nations could be played in Australia - they will attract good crowds anyway - much of the crowd is the touring crowd anyway and Australia has large Polynesian communities. A Lions vs Tonga game at Western Sydney Stadium would fill that ground. A Fiji vs Lions game in Brisbane would fill Suncorp. We spread the game a bit wider, we get development opportunities for our lower tier Oceanic playing nations. It might mean that RA take a bit of a haircut on the total revenue but it might not be that big.


I would also suggest that the Lions could maybe tour the Americas in the same/similar way. So Argentina would get the 3 tests at the end but, on the way, the Lions could play Canada, USA, Chile and/or Uruguay (all have played at World Cups) and then three tests against Argentina. I imagine the Provincial sides in Argentina would struggle just as much (if not more) than the Australian ones, but this way, the Lions get international opposition all the way down. And I imagine a Lions Test in New York or Vancouver would draw a decent crowd.


With SA vs NZ touring series coming up - the Lions coming to Oceania and the Americas during those times might be a good way for the two TRC partners Australia and Argentina with a pretty good alternative.

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