Bash Brothers continue their rampage
They’re known in Wellington’s rugby dressing room as the ‘‘Bash Brothers‘‘, and who’s going to argue?
Rampaging Lions Asafo Aumua and Alex Fidow left another trail of bruised opponents across Westpac Stadium on Thursday - this time in Cambridge blue jerseys - as Wellington swept past Northland 36-18 for their ninth win from 10.
Clearly, the 20-year-olds are New Zealand rugby’s most destructive duo and, no coincidence, the two giant ball runners are Wellington’s equal leading tryscorers with seven each, heading into next weekend’s Mitre 10 Cup championship semifinals. Rarely, if ever, does a prop and hooker top the try charts after a 10-match regular season.
‘‘The ‘Bash Brothers’, they call themselves. They certainly are, and I’m happy they’re on our team and not the opposition. They can spark something out of nothing and it’s really good to run off when we get front foot ball,’’ said a grateful first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop.
Aumua only galloped onto the field just after halftime on Thursday, and in about 35 minutes gave All Blacks coach Steve Hansen a jarring reminder - if he even needed one - that he must be considered among the country’s top three hookers.
He scored two tries, jolted Northland No 8 Matt Matich with a fearsome front-on tackle around the chest, and saw lock Tim Bond taken off on a stretcher as a pre- caution after an unfortunate but legal collision.
‘‘I was excited because I don’t really like being on the bench. I was really hungry just to get back on the field and unleash,’’ Aumua said.
Asked about his mate Fidow, also born in Lower Hutt three months after Aumua in 1997, he broke into a grin.
‘‘My man. We’ve been doing that for a while it feels like, rep rugby, under-13s, under-16s. I’ve played alongside him a bit.
‘‘Actually… he was too heavy for us [in under-13s], he was about 150 back then. School rep rugby was where it started [Aumua attended St Pat’s Silverstream and Fidow was at Scots]. Hopefully we can bring it next week as well.’’
Fidow, all 1.87m and 133kg of him, showed amazing agility to pick up after an Aumua charge and dive over beside the posts in the 60th minute for Wellington’s bonus point try, after they struggled in the first half.
In a remarkable sequence, Wellington collected four-try bonus points in all 10 matches this year.
Wellington will host Northland again for the championship semifinal on Friday night.