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Brumbies beat Moana Pasifika in Super score-fest
By AAP
A heavy dose of lineout power has carried the Brumbies to a fourth straight Super Rugby Pacific win, seeing off Moana Pasifika in an entertaining, back-and-forth affair in Canberra.
They were down 14-3 inside 10 minutes and couldn't shake off Moana until deep in the second half, winning 62-36 thanks to four tries off the back of their set piece.
Flanker Luke Reimer jagged two of them as they lent on their precision, before they opened up late when reserve halfback Ryan Lonergan changed the game off the bench.
Moana simply wouldn't give up in the 98-point, five-lead change thriller, grabbing a lead on 53 minutes when Samiuela Moli drove over the line from their own rolling maul.
But the Brumbies put the hammer down, substitute five-eighth Jack Debreczeni skipping over to retake the lead before winger Andy Muirhead's second try had them ahead 48-36.
And rugby sevens converts Corey Toole and Ben O'Donnell each found a late try as the score blew out, thei r expansive play catching Pasifika napping as they ran out of legs.
It leaves the Brumbies 4-0 heading to their first New Zealand trip of the season, set to tackle the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday night.
Lonergan made another argument for Wallabies selection, steering his side to victory in his second-half stint with some key passes creating scoring opportunities.
But they will need to give their game a serious tune-up if they're to test the NZ sides, looking porous defensively in conceding five tries and giving the Pasifika team a huge sniff of their first win on Australian soil.
They'd spotted Moana the early buffer courtesy of a loose Noah Lolesio pass that flanker Miracle Faiilagi returned 70m for a try, before Alamanda Motuga powered from a set piece to leave the rattled Brumbies 11 points in the hole.
But Tom Wright put Tamati Tua through on 15 minutes before the Brumbies added consecutive tries off the back of their lineout, although the P Pasifika outfit wouldn't go away and conjured a magical sweeping move that ended with Fine Inisi levelling the scores at 22-22.
Former Brumby Christian Leali'ifano impressed on his first trip to Canberra as an away player, steering Moana around the park well and slotting 11 points from the kicking tee.
Brumbies and Wallabies centre Len Ikitau missed the contest with a calf niggle, not expected to be risked in his side's trip to Christchurch.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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