Brumbies keep their heads

The Brumbies put off-the-field events to one side as they claimed a 40-27 bonus-point victory over the hapless Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Durban happenings have been extremely tough for the Brumbies this past week, with the Shaun Mackay situation and reported hotel room theft severely testing the tourists' resolve.

However, the twelfth-place side demonstrated admirable character to weather the Cheetahs' mini-onslaughts in a four-try victory that will certainly lift spirits.

There was another subplot in this fixture as referee Matt Goddard returned from his break, and controversy was not too far away - as both teams trotted out wearing white jerseys...but the Australian's later comments of 'roll away blue' had one scratching their head.

The confusion did not affect George Smith and his men though as they set out their stall early on with Christian Lealiifano showing maturity beyond his years to slot over a fifth-minute drop-goal.

Territory

That territorial dominance continued for the next ten minutes and when the fly-half showed great feet, a nice dummy and pace to break the line off first-phase ball, the Brumbies raced into a 0-10 advantage.

But then came a turn of the tide as finally some level playing ground emerged for the Cheetahs.

They had moved matters up to halfway with some fearsome defence aiding their cause, looking to unleash to raw pace of Jongi Nokwe and Danwel Demas. And with loosehead Wian du Preez wheeling an away scrummage to earn his side a turnover, home tails were well-and-truly up.

First it was home pivot Jacques-Louis Potgeiter who sent over their first points from the tee on 25 minutes, even if it did look slightly wide of the uprights.

And on the other side of Stirling Mortlock's cancelling effort, the hosts continued to up their efforts. The busy hooker Adrian Strauss finding a fine gap which led to another three points before another free-flowing move saw the two speedsters combine as Nokwe strolled over for the leveller.

Shell shocked

The Brumbies were starting to look a little shell-shocked as Mark Chisholm departed clutching his wrist and Lealiifano was also struggling in back-play as half-time approached.

Enter returning flanker Juan Smith with shirt colours remaining the same upon the turnaround. Could the Springbok's return be the catalyst they so craved to get over the finish line?

It seemed so until full-back Mark Gerrard broke out from his own 22-metre line with a chip and gather that led to him dribbling downfield and cross the whitewash as Strauss chased hard. That proved heatbreaking for the hosts and ultimately their undoing as the second-quarter fire seemed absent.

The Brumbies duly capitalised to make their spell count, and how. Following on from Gerrard's individual effort, Chisholm's replacement, Peter Kimlin, put his head down to extend the lead before scrum-half Josh Holmes put the game beyond the Cheetahs despite Demas' response.