Feb 24 (Reuters) – A new-look ACT Brumbies gave new
coach Jake White a winning start to his career in Australia as
they held off the Western Force 19-17 in their Super Rugby clash
in Canberra on Friday.
Former South Africa World Cup winning coach White took over
the under-performing Brumbies this season and has cleared out
several of the side’s established players, giving six players in
his 22-match day squad their first Super Rugby callup as he
looks to rebuild the side.
Both teams were heavily penalised by New Zealand referee
Bryce Lawrence for multiple indiscretions at the breakdown or by
being in front of the kicker as they looked to play a
territory-dominated game with little width or adventure in their
attack.
Force flyhalf James Stannard slotted four of his five penalty
attempts in the first half, while Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White
was successful with three of his five shots at goal.
The Brumbies’ scrum, which had demolished the Force’s pack in
one scrum shortly before the break, provided the platform for
second half tries to winger Jesse Mogg and fullback Robbie
Coleman as the Canberra-based side finally chanced their arm and
brought their young backline into play.
The Force continued with their conservative plan and managed
to hold onto the ball with decent field position for a series of
phases and hammered at the Brumbies’ line before Stannard scored
in the corner.
Both White and Stannard lost all sense of direction of the
posts in the second half with White missing three shots at goal,
while Stannard missed with two.
Please double click on the newslink:
for more rugby stories
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
