The Plus500 Brumbies claimed an epic victory at Newlands in Cape Town, downing the Stormers 19-17 with a gritty, determined and gutsy performance that will go down in the annals of Brumbies history as one of the best away wins the team has ever recorded.
Forced to make 226 tackles in a defensive display for the ages, the visitors tackled their hearts out, running themselves into a standstill and putting their bodies on the line to keep alive their hopes of the Australian Conference Title by making to back-to-back wins for the first time in 2019.
Taking their chances when they were presented, the Brumbies were on the back-foot for large parts of the contest, but still came away with three tries, opening their ledger with their first meaningful possession of the match, as backrower Pete Samu somehow found room to hold off two challenges and score in the corner.
With man of the match Jahrome Brown, on his first start of the club, making eighteen out of eighteen tackles, the home side struggled to find a way through, reliant on a Joshua Stander penalty for their only points of the first half hour.
The Brumbies hit back immediately after Stander’s 9th minute penalty, restarting with a deep kick and putting on instant pressure which allowed Rory Arnold to charge down the attempted clearance, regather and showed some nifty footwork for a try that Lealiifano converted.
A penalty-try, awarded when wing Toni Pulu was adjudged to have tackled Stormers scrum-half Hershel Jantjies high, getting a yellow card for his pains, helped the South Africans back into the match, trailing by only two-points when the half-time siren blew.
The Stormers came out rejuvenated after the break and prop Wilco Louw burrowed over for an early score, preceding a sustained period of home pressure which the Brumbies rode out, making tackle after tackle to force turnover ball and clearing their lines, only for the ball to return for them to repeat the feat.
It was therefore a huge relief when the Brumbies finally gathered some decent possession, turning that into territory with some excellent front-foot defensive work, and squirrelling away the metres with carries of brutal intensity. The physicality was a sight to behold and led to, what was ultimately, the game winning score.
Bashing away at the Stormers line the Brumbies kept patient and sucked in the cover defence before Lealiifano spun the ball wide with a huge miss-pass that allowed full-back Tom Banks the easiest of run-ins. Lealiifano converted again to put the Brumbies back in front and they held on for a memorable win.
STATISTICS
Stormers (10) 17 (T: Louw, Penalty-Try, C: Stander, P: Stander)
Plus500 Brumbies (12) 19 (T: Samu, Arnold, Banks, C: Lealiifano (2))
1. Scott SIO (17. James SLIPPER 51’), 2. Folau FAINGA’A (16. Josh MANN-REA 22-33’, 51-61’), 3. Allan ALAALATOA (18. Leslie LEULUAIALII-MAKIN 73’), 4. Rory ARNOLD, 5. Sam CARTER (19. Darcy SWAIN 65’), 6. Jahrome BROWN (20. Murray DOUGLAS 65’), 7. Tom CUSACK, 8. Pete SAMU, 9. Joe POWELL (21. Matt LUCAS 61’), 10. Christian LEALIIFANO, 11. Toni PULU, 12. Tom WRIGHT (22. Wharenui HAWERA 59’), 13. Tevita KURIDRANI, 14. Henry SPEIGHT, 15. Tom BANKSYELLOW CARDS: 11. Toni PULU
REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: 23. Andy MUIRHEAD
