Smith double as Highlanders cane Brumbies
The streak lives on.
The final scoreline flatters but the Highlanders’ 43-17 win against the Brumbies in Dunedin last night marked the 34th consecutive win by Kiwi franchises over their Australian foes.
The bonus point win wasn’t in the can until co-captain Ben Smith completed his brace with 13 minutes to play, having streaked 60 metres down the left-hand flank to kill off the visitors’ challenge.
To think it wasn’t long after the Brumbies, with a numerical advantage after Lima Sopoaga was yellow carded for a tip tackle, appeared set to go 17-15 up, only for Waisake Naholo to intercept a Wharenui Hawera pass and take it 90m the other way.
As if to rub Brumbies coach Dan McKellar’s face in it, after he said during the week Kiwi teams don’t respect Aussie sides, the Highlanders ran in three more tries, including one to Fletcher Smith well after the final hooter.
The win improved the Highlanders’ record to 4-2, pulling them to within two points of the third-placed Chiefs in the Kiwi conference.
Perhaps it was down to post-bye rust, but there was plenty of rust in the Highlanders’ performance.
It wasn’t just that their scrum was on the back foot the majority of the night, there was also numerous handling errors and passes failing to find their target.
Coach Aaron Mauger targeted improved accuracy during the week, so it would have been fascinating to have had a live audio feed from the coaching box when Waisake Naholo and Tei Walden coughed up passes with their side hot on attack. The same goes for when Sopoaga flung a long pass into touch early in the second half, after they finally held their ground at scrum-time.
Despite Brumbies flanker David Pocock playing out of his skin, the Highlanders still had far too much class for the Canberra-based team.
The fact they were on the wrong side of the penalty count (12-2), and outscored the Brumbies 7-0 with Sopoaga, carded in 52nd minute for a tip tackle on Thomas Banks, in the bin, said it all.
For the record, Sopoaga didn’t agree with the call when Ben O’Keeffe flashed the card, even reminding the whistleblower they weren’t playing ‘‘Tiddlywinks’’.
The Brumbies had the home side under the pump at scrum time, with Allan Alaalatoa giving Highlanders loosehead Daniel Lienert-Brown all sorts of problems early on.
As a result, O’Keeffe threatened to blow the Highlanders off the park as the penalty count read 7-1 in the first half alone.
The majority of those were due to the Brumbies’ scrum dominance, which also played a huge part in the visitors’ opening try which cut the deficit to 12-10 late in the first half.
It was No 8 Isi Naisarani who powered over, having scooped up the ball at the back of a bulldozing scrum and ensuring the disallowed try to Pocock (for accidental offside) moments earlier didn’t sting.
It was a timely score, considering the ease with which fullback Ben Smith scored as the Highlanders took a 12-3 lead inside the first half hour.
Smith practically went over untouched from 45m out to finish off a smooth set piece move, although Brumbies wing James Dargaville did him a generous favour by aimlessly flying in off his wing and leaving his team-mates in no man’s land.
It followed Sopoaga’s opener in the seventh minute, after he completed a slick 10-phase raid by muscling over the line with 2m lock Blake Enever draped all over him.
Highlanders 43 (Ben Smith 2, Lima Sopoaga, Waisake Naholo, Shannon Frizell, Fletcher Smith tries; Sopoaga 4 con, pen, Ben Smith con) Brumbies 17 (Isi Naisarani, Joe Powell tries; Wharenui Hawera pen, 2 con). HT: 12-10.