Brumbies strangle colourless Blues

The Brumbies dealt the Blues' Super 14 semi-final hopes a telling blow in Auckland on Saturday as visitors from Canberra walked away convincing 11-16 winners.

The Brumbies dealt the Blues' Super 14 semi-final hopes a telling blow in Auckland on Saturday as visitors from Canberra walked away convincing 11-16 winners.

The Brumbies combined a well organised defence with some excellent work in the line-outs and rucks to deny the Blues any chance of getting some rhythm.

The Blues were a completely different team to the one that was running tries in from all over the park earlier in the competition as endless handling errors put them out of the game.

A first half try from Brumbies' fly-half Christian Lealiifano and 11 points from the boots of Stirling Mortlock and Mark Gerrard were enough to earn the Brumbies four valuable Super 14 points.

A late Rudi Wulf try earned the home side a losing bonus point but it was too little too late to save the game.

The Blues ran out showing some urgency in the first ten minutes, especially on defence where they were coming up very quickly and swarming over the Brumbies.

Unfortunately, in their haste to close in on the Brumbies' runners they left gaping holes in their defensive lines.

With the Brumbies dominating the possession stats, the Blues soon became as unsettled as they were urgent. Captain Troy Flavell was the perfect example of the Auckland side's frustration with their own errors.

Having already won a free-kick, the Blues' skipper lost his rag and lashed out, obliging referee Jonathan Kaplan to reverse his decision and extend his arm in the opposite direction.

Feeling that the game's momentum had swung their way, Brumbies' captain Mortlock chose to set up a line-out instead of going for posts.

When Lealiifano scored from the ensuing attack, Flavell's mistake had become a very costly one.

It wasn't the first one either as some unnecessary back chat in the second half again cost them points in the form of a long-range Gerrard penalty.

The Blues' dominance in the scrums was of little worth as the Brumbies were doing storming business at the breakdowns.

The white jerseys almost always outnumbered their blue counterparts and the potentially dangerous Blues backs were denied possession.

That said, one got the distinct feeling that even if decent possession was forthcoming, it would not have been profitable.

Usually absolutely lethal in broken play, the Blues were incapable of stringing even the most basic of moves together – whether it was from loose ball or from a set piece.

The Brumbies were worth their 10-3 half-time lead, in fact they could well have been even further up if they had converted a couple of huge overlaps near the end of the half.

It's a horrible cliché but it has to be said, the Blues have got the blues.

As the game progressed, their confidence and enthusiasm waned as Nick Evans tried his level best to gee them up, shouting his lungs dry, but to no avail.

The Brumbies were dominant in the line-outs as they were in almost every other aspect of the game. The Canberra boys' defence was solid and they seemed in no hurry to produce any unnecessary frills.

Their inability to really press home their advantage nearly cost them though when Wulf pulled his team to back into contention with a 76th minute try.

It was the first time in the whole game that the Blues attack found some fluency, but when Evans' conversion dipped just below the crossbar their hopes of a late comeback were dashed.

Man of the match: Stirling Mortlock was at his hard-fighting best and the Brumbies' loose trio were cleaning up in the rucks as were their locks in the line-outs, but full-back Mark Gerrard produced a couple of brilliant touch finders to keep the Blues on the back foot.

Moment of the match: There weren't many. Rudi Wulf's try was a brief glimpse of what the Blues' backline is capable of when they get it together.

Villian of the match: No punch ups, but Troy Flavell didn't set a very good example for his side and should consider sending referee Kaplan a fruit basket to atone for his sins.

The Scorers

For the Blues:
Try:Rudi Wulf
Pens: Evans 2

For the Brumbies:
Try:Lealiifano
Con:Mortlock
Pens:Mortlock 2, Gerrard

Blues: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Anthony Tuitavake, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Lee, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell (c), 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Nick White, 18 Bryn Evans, 19 Justin Collins, 20 Taniela Moa, 21 Ben Atiga, 22 David Smith.

Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Tyrone Smith, 11Peter Playford, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Patrick Phibbs, 8 Julian Salvi, 7 George Smith, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Salesi Ma'afi, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Jone Tawake, 20 Joshua Holmes, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Francis Fainifo, 23 Ben Alexander.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Assessor: Alan Riley (New Zealand)