Brumbies Share the Spoils

The ACT Brumbies have staged a dramatic second half revival to claim half the points on offer courtesy of a 15-15 draw against the Stormers early this morning at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

ACT looked to be in all sorts of trouble when trailing the Stormers 15-3 early in the second half, but tries to lock Alistair Campbell and fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper helped the Brumbies level the contest before the visitors were forced to hang on for grim life over the final 10 minutes of the match before they could claim a share of the spoils.

The Brumbies can take solace in that they scored the only two tries of the match, while the Stormers rarely looked like penetrating the visitors defensive line, instead having to rely on the boot of fly half Peter Grant who landed five penalty goals for the match.

After a sensational come from behind win against the Bulls last round ACT were not able to carry that momentum into this week’s clash against the Stormers and early on looked very sluggish in attack, but with the home side looking equally inept with the ball in hand the Brumbies were able to stay close in the opening stages of the match.

Grant opened the scoring for the Stormers in the eighth minute with his first penalty goal of the match and nine minutes later he landed another to put the South African side ahead 6-0.

Stirling Mortlock answered with a penalty goal of his own to narrow the margin to three, but moments before half time Grant restored the six point margin to send the Stormers into the main break with a handy 9-3 lead.

A ruck infringement shortly after half time allowed Grant to extend the lead further with his fourth penalty goal of the game and just minutes later the Brumbies were caught offside allowing the Stormers fly half to kick his fifth and final penalty goal (15-3).

Falling behind by so far seemed to kick ACT into action and they finally broke through with Campbell crashing over after some nice lead up work from the forwards.

Mark Gerrard took over the kicking duties after Mortlock was forced from the field with a groin strain and he duly knocked over the conversion to cut the margin to five points with 20 minutes to play (15-10).

The Brumbies comeback chances looked bleak with the Stormers attacking their line in the 64th minute, but the visitors forced a turnover and from the ensuing counter attack Ashley-Cooper was awarded a try after a quick check from the television match official.

Gerrard was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt that would have given the Brumbies their first lead of the game, but in the end a draw was the right result with both sides not deserving to lose such a hard fought battle.

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