Brumbies 33-0 Sunwolves: Brumbies brush aside Sunwolves in Super Rugby
Sunday 12 May 2019 13:15, UK
The Brumbies secured top spot in the Australian Conference with a 33-0 victory over the Sunwolves in Canberra on Sunday.
The victors ran in five tries to secure a bonus-point in the twilight game and the result marks their fifth competition-win at home in a succession.
Returning from a knee injury, Wallabies centre Tevita Kuridrani was dominant for the Brumbies, while winger Henry Speight scored two tries in the first half and set one up in the second period.
The Brumbies felt unfairly maligned during the week after former Wallaby Justin Harrison called them "pedestrian" for scoring three of their four tries from driving mauls during their victory over the Auckland Blues.
But with Kuridrani proving a midfield menace, and the Sunwolves leaving defensive holes all over the ground, the side had no need to lean on the tactic and instead used speed and flair to secure their five-pointers.
"Tevita was outstanding but [it was] all from our set piece, from our forwards and the pressure they applied up front," said Brumbies captain Christian Lealiifano.
"It was really nice to get some tries there and play the way we did but more importantly it was really nice to keep them to zero [points] as well."
The cellar-dwelling Sunwolves battled hard to score in the second half but were denied by stout, try-line defence and squandered a number of chances with errant kicking on attack.
Kuridrani set up three of the Brumbies' tries and got his side off to a flying start.
He broke the Sunwolves' lines twice to put Speight over in the 13th minute. He then fed scrum-half Joe Powell to create their second try three minutes later with another blistering dash down the right flank.
Fly-half Lealiifano created Speight's second try with a long, looping pass to the right corner before the Brumbies went to the sheds 19-0 in front at the interval.
After the restart, Speight soon broke through the Sunwolves' negligible defence and darted toward the left corner before passing inside to Tom Banks for their fourth five-pointer in the 52nd minute.
Kuridrani capped a brilliant return with a sumptuous, lofted offload that put Pete Samu through a hole, and the loose forward thundered over in the 65th minute to complete the rout.
