Brumbies’ shot at history ends in humbling defeat

Super Round continued to anything but for Australian teams in Christchurch after the Brumbies were thrashed 45-12 in a seven-try rout by the Hurricanes.

Chasing a rare clean sweep of wins over all five Kiwi teams in a single season, the Brumbies didn’t even get close to making history in a one-sided victory by the Canes at One New Zealand Stadium.

A night after the Waratahs were blown off the same park, the Brumbies turned in their worst showing of the year, with an error-strewn performance of poor kicking, wobbly lineout work and pushed passes helping the Canes run up a big score.

Hurricanes winger Fehi Fineanganofo bagged a first-half hat-trick, and finished with four tries.

The New Zealand side proved outstanding in defence, and didn’t let the Brumbies build any attacking momentum.

And when the Brumbies tried to kick their way into good position, they failed terribly – particularly in the opening half, when balls were kicked dead or into the arms of Hurricanes counter-attackers.

Declan Meredith was hooked at half-time after kicking two balls dead from penalties, with attacking lineouts on the line may have begun a fightback.

The Hurricanes led 19-0 at the break, but in worrying signs, the second-half performance got even worse from the Brumbies. The Canes were far hungrier and the visitors fell away badly in the last quarter.

By the end of the game, the Brumbies had missed a staggering 48 tackles. It is the third defeat for the Brumbies in their last four games.

The two sides battled it out aerially in the opening stages, neither wanting to play. But eventually the Canes found a way through the Brumbies defence through a misread that allowed Ruben Love to scoot through the line. Fast ball saw an extra number found on the left wing and Fineanganofo crossed.

The Brumbies’ game began to unravel, and their plan to kick all their ball out of their half was not matched with the required accuracy. Time and again poor kicks handed easy possession back to the Canes, and when they did mount pressure, more errors and lost attacking lineouts hurt them.

Another poor kick gave the Canes attacking ball in their half and a subsequent penalty set up a corner lineout. Corey Toole was caught in no-man’s land when he raced up in defence, and Fineanganofo scored an easy second try.

The Brumbies won a penalty off the kickoff but Meredith then pulled out a coach-killer by kicking the ball dead.

As the Canes grew up in confidence, rivets began to pop all over the place for the Brumbies. The lineout continued to lose important moments, and the ACT side struggled to make first-up tackles stick, allowing the Kiwis to roll forward.

Another simple kicking error then cost them another try, when Meredith didn’t find touch from his in-goal and the Canes counter-attacked. They rolled forward and manufactured another chance for Fineanganofo on the left edge, and he stepped inside Billy Pollard to complete his hat-trick in the 37th minute.

The face-slapping wasn’t over, though. Given one last chance on the half-time hooter to kick for the corner via a penalty, Meredith again kicked the ball dead. He was unsurprisingly hooked at the break.

The injection of Tane Edmed worked, too. The Brumbies started the second half with far more aggression and purpose, and finally built pressure in the Canes’ half.

Using a deep sweep in the backline, Corey Toole was given space on the left edge and he gave a backhand offload to David Feliulai for the Brumbies’ first try.

The fightback was shortlived. The Canes scored a fourth try soon after when they counter-attack from deep, and after the Brumbies failed to secure possession from a grubber, Josh Moorby scored on the right wing, running through three poor tackles on the goal line.

The Brumbies lost all sense of composure and began pushing passes. It gave the Kiwi side fertile ground to take advantage of the dropped ball, and Fineanganofo scored his fourth from a chase on a ball that was kicked through.

Even a second consolation try for the Brumbies was botched when Toby McPherson knocked the ball on, over the line. Toole grabbed an intercept try but the Canes posted several more of their own, too.

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