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Nic White has last laugh Brumbies end Reds' Brisbane hoodoo
By AAP
Overlooked halfback Tate McDermott fired his best shots but adversary Nic White had the last laugh as the ACT Brumbies picked apart the Queensland Reds for their first win in Brisbane for eight years.
An eyebrow-raising omission from Eddie Jones' Wallabies squad this week, McDermott blazed 55 metres for a terrific solo try as the Reds gained an early 14-7 ascendancy.
But the Brumbies chipped away, exposing the Reds' sloppiness and lack of second-half structure in a runaway 52-24 win to improve to 6-1 and second place on the live Super Rugby Pacific ladder.
The Reds fell to 2-5 and likely outside the top eight by the end of the round, heaping further pressure on off-contract coach Brad Thorn.
It ended a 14-game Reds winning streak against Australian opponents at the ground, with an early red card for Angus Blyth rubbing salt into their wounds.
Veteran halfback White struck the dagger blow early in the second half, his kick in behind the Reds finding acres of space for Len Ikitau to score for a 28-17 lead.
The Reds led 14-7 and 17-4 after in-form winger Jordan Petaia's storming run and regathered grubber earned a penalty and led to Brumbies fullback Tom Wright being yellow carded.
But it was the visitors who scored next, with Dane Zander giving away another penalty in the ruck and Lachlan Lonergan scoring from a textbook rolling maul after the halftime siren.
Queensland started well, giving the Brumbies a taste of their own medicine with an efficient rolling maul try to Matt Faessler off a lineout.
That came undone in Blyth's moment of madness though, the fit-again lock lasting just eight minutes in his first start of the season after a charge down on Corey Toole went horribly wrong.
The second-rower tucked his head and struck the pint-sized winger on the chin, with Toole wobbling twice when attempting to regain his feet and was quickly ruled out with a concussion.
The incident was upgraded on review to a red, with Blyth's suspension potentially ruling him out for the rest of the regular season.
Tom Wright scored while the Reds were a man down, when Noah Lolesio's neat bounce pass allowed him to fall over the line.
The Reds were back in front in the 23rd minute when McDermott beat five men - the last with a cheeky dummy and wide smile - on the way to the line.
The lead slowly disappeared, though, as the Reds lost their way after the break and the Brumbies piled on five second-half tries.
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Latest Comments
There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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