Yet again, a Brumbies-Reds clash has come down to the final play albeit a foiled one. It might not have produced the five-star rugby of last year’s contests but this was a tense, tight and high-stakes night in Canberra.
The Brumbies won 16-12 but will believe they can play better in just about every area of their game.
Coach Dan McKellar was right when he said his side could “not get out of second gear” in the first half but they still gritted it out with two second half penalty goals.
So what did we learn from this Super Rugby Pacific match?
1 INTENSITY
This was undoubtedly the most intense, physical local derby of the season. No turf was given up easily by either side and committed defenders from both sides smothered chances and forced turnovers on other occasions.
Only three tries were scored but it could easily have been twice that many. A copybook James O’Connor tackle denied Jahrome Brown a try, flanker Luke Reimer butchered a try when he didn’t pass to Jesse Mogg on his outside and Fraser McReight knocked on when a bobbling ball bounced his way.
2 SOMEONE IS TAKING KICKING LESSONS
It might be an illusion but Australian backs look to have improved their use of the short kick.
James O’Connor has certainly shown it with two clever kick tries before last night. In Canberra, Hunter Paisami dabbed a lovely grubber kick through for Josh Flook.
Brumbies centre Irae Simone went one better with his left-footed nudge for the Tom Wright try.
3 WHEN WAS THERE LAST A HITMAN LIKE HUNTER PAISAMI?
Paisami’s teeth-rattling early tackle on Brumbies flyhalf Noah Lolesio could be felt in the back row of The Gregan-Larkham Stand.
We’ve all seen enough of Paisami now to know he keeps producing these massive hits a la his front-on stop on Western Force winger Manasa Mataele.
Former Wallabies Nathan Grey and Pat McCabe had hitting power as defenders centres but not like Paisami.
Paisami unleashes his biggest tackles as if he is 15kg-plus heavier like a Matt Cockbain or Wycliff Palu. Can you think of others?
4 BACKROW SKILLS
There were plenty of elite backrow skills on display in Canberra but not all neatly packaged in one multi-purpose frame.
We’ll start with Seru Uru’s standout traits...that super-quick pick-and-go from a fresh tackle is metres every time. His silky hands were the last pass for the Josh Nasser try.
Harry Wilson’s happy knack for a charge and a high offload nearly put Fraser McReight over. The big man in the red headgear carried more (14 times) than anyone on the night but what more he could make of things with more footwork at the line.
For the Brumbies, Rob Valetini was a little quieter than normal with his ball-carries. He made just four but 11 tackles was the strong workrate you expect. Jahrome Brown is just a worker. Put him down for a game-high 13 tackles.
READ MORE:
SUPER W TEAMS: All the news for round three
RIVALRY: Inside the Brumbies-Reds battles
ONE PERCENTERS: Spain salutes as Levi shows off gruesome injury
5 PETAIA v BANKS
The Jordan Petaia experiment at fullback is workable at Super Rugby level because he’s just such a talented player. He was involved in plenty in this game with his ball carries, key tackles and looming in support.
Nothing suggested he is yet the full package to be considered as a Test fullback.
The Reds are getting value though.
Brumbies rival Tom Banks probed and bobbed up in support regularly but there were no holes to punch through the Reds’ defence. It was a bit like his initial Test outings when there just wasn’t space for him to operate.
