Bruising Brumbies hold off late Waratahs fightback in the wet

A never-say-die fightback from the Waratahs provided an exciting finish in Canberra but ultimately wasn’t enough to stop the Brumbies from retaining the Dan Vickerman Cup with a clinical win at GIO Stadium.

With rain bucketing down, it was a game that would have had Vickerman grinning ear-to-ear, with players belting each other all night, bruised and bandaged troops everywhere, set-pieces a key battleground and big running forwards proving to be the best on ground.

As a former Brumby and Waratah, the big Wallaby lock would have loved to see the game go down to the last play, too.

On the back of superb form from Brumbies back-rower Rob Valetini and a well-executed field position game, the ACT men looked to be cruising to a big win soon after half-time when they scored a third try for a 24-6 lead.

With the Waratahs unable to mount any pressure due to handling errors and defending their own line for long stretches due to poor exits, there was even the potential for a one-sided scoreline of the bad old Tahs to re-emerge.

But NSW fought back against the tiring hosts, scored a try through prop Angus Bell and with good impact from their bench, finally began to hammer the Brumbies line in the third quarter.

Rob Valetini bumps off Waratahs fullback Alex Newsome.Credit:Getty

A try would have put NSW within four points and made things interesting but key turnovers repelled them, and instead the Brumbies banged over a 70th-minute penalty to stretch the lead to 14 points.

NSW finally got that try in the 72nd minute through Will Harris, and attacked right until the final siren to try and send the game to golden point.

The Brumbies, however, kept the Waratahs at bay. The victory was the Brumbies’ 16th from their last 17 games at home but given the hard slog that had been required to earn it – against a Waratahs team that lacks a lot of polish but nothing in spirit – the hosts celebrated at the final siren.

“Just that emotion on the sideline showed how big that win was to us,” Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa said.

“What pleased me most was our defence, some of our boys off the bench had some big moments late in the second half.”

Irae Simone celebrates after scoring.Credit:Getty

While Izzy Perese was again outstanding, the Waratahs missed the sting of Lachie Swinton and will count the cost of double-digit errors and poor options that allowed the Brumbies to set up camp in their half.

And in contrast to the Brumbies’ clear and precise plan, the Tahs looked frazzled with the ball until it was too late in the second half.

“It is a tough place to play, they really dominated possession and played at the right ends of the field,” Waratahs skipper Jake Gordon said.

Jake Gordon looking worse for wear.Credit:Getty

“Once again we were our own worst enemy. We are developing and we showed a lot of guts to come back in that second half. To come within seven … I am really proud of the effort but once again the accuracy needs to pick up a bit.”

Valetini showed why he will be one of the first picked by Wallabies coach Dave Rennie come July for the England Test series, with another powerhouse performance.

The big No.8 was the point of the spear for the Brumbies in the first half when they camped in the Waratahs half. Via the kicking of Noah Lolesio and Nic White – and aggressive line speed in defence – the Brumbies controlled field position in the wet and had NSW under the pump.

The Waratahs did well to repel the Brumbies’ rolling maul but, showing how well they’ve evolved in the last few years, Dan McKellar’s men shifted the ball in attack and – crucially – got the ball in the hands of Valetini.

The loose forward crashed over in the fifth minute to open up the scoring and though the Waratahs kept in touch with penalties and the pinballing force of Perese, their rare chances to score were snuffed out.

Valetini had a hand in the Brumbies’ second try just before the break when put into a nice gap via the deceptive passing of Irae Simone, and Nick Frost barged over a few phases later.

The second half saw the Brumbies re-establish the big squeeze – and NSW still struggling to escape it. When Simone scored after a NSW error at a rolling maul, it looked a little like the Darren Coleman resurgence was set to come to a deflating halt.

But the Tahs kept fighting and got their way back into the contest.

Will Harris on his way to scoring a late try.Credit:Getty

After being too deep in the first half, Ben Donaldson flattened up and began to threaten the line. He laid on both tries for Bell and Harris.

But their chance to genuinely push for a win was lost in the third quarter, when composure on the Brumbies line was needed and didn’t happen. Warringah breakaway Luke Reimer made two key turnovers after coming on from the Brumbies bench that effectively secured the win.

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