Mortlock brings up the grand

The Brumbies got the second game of the 2010 Super 14 underway, when they faced the Western Force in Perth on Friday, in what was to be a scrappy affair.

As with the case of the opening match, between the Blues and Hurricanes, the players struggled to adjust to the new interpretation of referees’ calls at the breakdown, accumulating penalties like they were trading baseball cards. With a total of 19 penalties and 2 free-kicks, less than the opening match, but still an alarmingly high number. Hopefully the players will settle into the new interpretation quickly, and the ref’s will remain consistent.

The Brumbies managed to win the game 24 – 15, scoring 3 tries in the process and keeping the Force try-less through better defense than their opposition, but not a great showing at all. Only the steady boot of young Force back, James O’Connor managed to keep them in the game through 5 penalties.

My two cents worth:

• One of the worst defensive efforts that I’ve seen in a game in quite a while, with the Brumbies missing 12 tackles and the Force, a staggering 27 tackles missed. Richard Brown being the main culprit with 4 missed tackles to his name.
• I don’t think we should be overly concerned with the high penalty count early on. The players and referees will hopefully settle into things soon enough.
• Mark Chisholm performed 5 turnovers, a good showing by the 2nd row forward.
• The Brumbies front row played a massive role in the scoring of their tries. With two being scored by their hooker and his replacement respectively, after the first was set up by Brumbies prop, Ben Alexander’s cracking run down the field.

Brumbies VS Force 2010 Highlights: [tonytai2014]

Note: I will post proper highlights of this game once they become available.

Scoreboard: