Brumbies gallop away from Cats

The Brumbies, on the back of a first-half rout, recorded a deserved 28-7 win over the Cats in their Super 14 Round Four match at the Canberra Stadium on Friday. The Brumbies had a 25-0 lead at the break, but amazingly the Cats won the second-half scrap 7-3.

Winning captain Stirling Mortlock

Even more odd is the fact that after scoring three tries inside the first 30 minutes, the Brumbies failed to score another try in 50 minutes - losing out on the bonus point.

The Brumbies completely dominated the first half, in their first home game of the inaugural Super 14 season.

The home team went quickly ahead in the fourth minute, after Matt Giteau was the victim of a late tackle. Mark Gerrard slotted over the penalty to set the tone for the half.

The Cats continued to produce a high error rate and gave away numerous silly penalties - which prompted the referee to have a couple of chats with Cats captain Wikus van Heerden.

Just three minutes after their first score the Brumbies showed some great attacking flair, keeping the ball alive and taking the play from one side of the field to the other, all the while making inroads into the Cats defence.

Rookie fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper finally found a gap and crossed over out wide for an unconverted try - 8-0 to the Brumbies in as many minutes.

With the home side having all the play, another impressive backline raid featuring a great individual run from winger Gerrard just broke down short of the Cats line.

But Gerrard, who had also taken over the goal-kicking from captain Stirling Mortlock - who were clearly still feeling the effects from a knee injury sustained in South Africa last week - didn't have to wait long for another shot at the tryline.

On the 15-minute mark, a well weighted grubber kick by Matt Giteau saw Gerrard get to the ball first. The flying winger toed ahead and regathered to cross for the Brumbies second try. With the try scorer still trying to get his breath back, Giteau stepped up and coolly slotted the conversion for a 15-0 lead.

The Cats found it tough to even get out of their own half and the Brumbies took advantage on the half hour mark with another lethal backline play.

This time a perfectly weighted pass from fly-half Stephen Larkham put a flying Stirling Mortlock into the clear and he crossed over untouched for the Brumbies' third try. Gerrard converted to push the lead out to 22-0.

The Cats were again made to pay for an indiscretion, testing the referee's patience, with Gerrard slotting the penalty in the 35th minute to give the Brumbies a 25-0 lead at the break.

It was a rejuvenated Cats team that came out after the break, finally managing to put together something that resembled a game-plan.

The put the Brumbies under a lot more pressure and with less time and space to move in, the home side did not look as flush anymore.

Both teams had their chances, the Brumbies opening the scoring with a 42nd-minute Gerrard penalty to make it 28-0.

At that stage it looked as if the Cats were going to be on the receiving end of a 50-pointer.

But Wikus van Heerden rallied his men and they suddenly weren't slipping off so many tackles.

The pressure also forced the Brumbies into more errors - by the end of the game the BNrumbies had made 20-odd handling errors and the Cats only about 10.

Maybe that says something about the possession stakes, but the Cats did look a whole lot more competitive.

In fact they will take some consolation - very little, but still some - from the fact that they won the second half 7-3 on the scoreboard.

The seven Cats points came courtesy of a Brumby mistake, when Cats fullback Earl Rose hacked a loose ball through, followed up and kicked ahead again. The bounced favoured him and he collected to spring clear for a 70-metre try.

He added the conversion to make it 28-7, but with only a minute remaining on the clock it was obviously far too late.

At least the Cats were not whitewashed.

Man of the match: Firstly (and this goes for every match the Cats play in) you have to mention Wikus van Heerden. He must have close to the highest workrate of any player in the competition. For the Brumbies there was a solid performance - both with the boot and on attack - from wing Mark Gerrard. George Gregan was very effective behind the impressive Brumbies pack and George Smith ... well he did what George Smith always does. But our man of the match award goes to Stephen Larkham for not just producing a thoroughly professional performance, but also showing what a world class act he is by directing the traffic and generally being the creative genius in the Brumbies backline.

The scorers:

For the Brumbies:
Tries: Ashley-Cooper, Gerrard, Mortlock
Cons: Giteau, Gerrard
Pens: Gerrard 3

For the Cats:
Try: Rose
Con: Rose

Teams:

Brumbies: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Clyde Rathbone, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Mark Gerrard, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan, 8 Jone Tawake, 7 George Smith, 6 Daniel Heenan, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 James McCormack, 1 Bill Young.
Replacements: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Nic Henderson, 18 Adam Wallace-Harrison, 19 Radike Samo, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Gene Fairbanks, 22 Joel Wilson

Cats: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Grant Esterhuizen, 10 Tiaan Snyman, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Cobus Grobbelaar, 7 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Willem Stoltz, 4 Trevor Hall, 3 Daniel Muller, 2 Lukas van Biljon, 1 Pietman van Niekerk.
Replacements: 16 Delarey du Preez, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 KleinJan Tromp, 19 Ernst Joubert, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Jorrie Muller

Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Scott Young (Australia)
Television match official: Andrew Lindsay (Australia)
Assessor: Ian Scotney or Brendan McCormick (Australia)