Brumbies demolish Cheetahs
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The Brumbies scored six second-half tries and dominated possession throughout to beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 61-15 in a Super 14 rugby match.
Prop Ben Alexander scored a pair of tries Saturday to give him a Brumbies’ leading four for the season.
The Brumbies improved to 6-2 and stayed with two points of a semi-final spot, while the Cheetahs dropped to 2-6.
Cheetahs’ captain and Springboks flanker Juan Smith withdrew from the match because of the death of his father in Bloemfontein.
Smith’s father, Giel, died late Wednesday after apparently contracting a fever-related illness on his farm.
Smith had missed the Cheetahs’ previous two matches, but flew earlier in the week to Sydney to rejoin his teammates after doctors told him his father’s health was improving. The team wore black armbands Saturday in memory of Giel Smith.
The Cheetahs have never won at Canberra Stadium and the Brumbies are 5-1 against the South African side.
The Brumbies overcame a poor start to lead 21-3 at halftime, then added a fourth try early in the second half to secure a bonus point.
The Brumbies scored an early try by captain Stephen Hoiles, but it was not until almost 30 minutes later that the Brumbies finally added a long overdue second try through halfback Patrick Phibbs.
It came after numerous attacking raids that should have delivered points came up short, either through handling errors or giving away penalties.
Despite having more than 80% of possession and the majority of territory in the first half, the Brumbies failed to take their chances with poor execution letting them down.
The home side scored its third try three minutes before halftime through outside centre Tyrone Smith.
Cheetahs lock Barend Pieterse was sent to the bin for 10 minutes midway through the first half after the visitors were penalised for repeated offside infringements.
Adriaan Strauss, the Cheetahs’ stand-in captain who scored one of their two tries, praised the home side.
“We need to get some consistency,” Strauss said. “We just defended the whole game. We can’t say much about tonight … just give credit to the Brumbies.”
Hoiles said the Brumbies were “scrappy” at times.
“We had a lot of possession in that first half without much luck,” Hoiles said. “We played with a little more patience in the second half and it paid off.”
Scorers:
Brumbies
Tries: Ben Alexander (2), Stephen Hoiles, Patrick Phibbs, Tyrone Smith, Rocky Elsom, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Toomua, Alfi Mafi. Conversions: Matt Giteau (6), Julian Huxley (2).
Cheetahs
Tries: Sarel Pretorius, Adriaan Strauss. Conversion: Riaan Viljoen. Penalty goal: Naas Olivier.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZL)
Brumbies (AUS) 61 – Cheetahs (RSA) 15 (HT: 21-3)
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