Reds claim bragging rights against Brumbies

David Skippers

The Reds made it back-to-back wins in Super Rugby when they defeated the Brumbies 36-14 in their Super Rugby derby in Brisbane on Sunday.

After losing their first three games, the Reds bounced back with a win over the Sunwolves last week and they continued with their fine form as they outscored the Brumbies by five tries to two.

Bryce Hegarty was in fine form for the victors as he finished with a 16-point haul courtesy of a try, four conversions and a penalty while Scott Higginbotham, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Tate McDermott and Brandon Paenga-Amosa also scored tries.

For the Brumbies, Henry Speight and Jahrome Brown crossed the whitewash and Christian Lealiifano added two conversions.

The home side opened the scoring on a rare foray into the Brumbies’ half when Higginbotham powered his way over the try-line despite the attentions of three defenders.

Hegarty added the extras which meant the Reds led 7-0 after 15 minutes.

The rest of the half was a slugfest as the sides went at each other hammer and tongs in a bid to gain the ascendancy, but a penalty from Hegarty on the half-hour mark were the only points scored during the rest of the half.

The Reds finished stronger though and were camped inside the Brumbies’ half during the closing stages of the opening stanza but they could not add to their points tally and the teams changed sides at half-time with the home side leading 10-0.

The Brumbies needed a response and that came two minutes after the restart when Speight found himself in space before rounding off in the right-hand corner and although Lealiifano’s conversion meant they were back in the game and trailing by just three points, the Reds would strike back with two well-taken tries in quick succession.

First, Chris Feauai-Sautia ran onto a pass from Samu Kerevi before dotting down under the posts in the 48th minute. And shortly afterwards, Feauai-Sautia got a pass out to Tate McDermott, who raced away from the cover defence before crossing the whitewash.

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The Brumbies struck back when Brown pounced on an error from the Reds deep inside their 22 to score his side’s second try in the 71st minute but the hosts sealed their win with Hegarty’s try five minutes later.

The Reds finished stronger and secured their try-scoring bonus-point when Paenga-Amosa barged over from close quarters in the game’s closing stages.