Brumbies win APC title

The ACT Brumbies have won the Australian Provincial Championship following a convincing 42-17 win over the Queensland Reds at Viking Park tonight.

The home side led from start to finish accumulating six tries along the way with the super boot of Julian Huxley converting each touchdown.

Committing to the Brumbies’ trademark running game, the ACT side benefited from their expansive game plan, spinning the ball quickly and finding holes out wide.

While the visitors found some ground early, they were largely closed out of the match in the first half before finding the line on two occasions after the break.

Determined to impress in front of national selectors John Connolly, Scott Johnson and Michael O’Connor, the Brumbies were strong across the park with each of the 22-man squad taking the final opportunity to push their claim for a full-time Super 14 contract or berth on the Wallaby Spring Tour.

Julian Huxley took man-of-the-match honours with a flawless kicking display, both off the kicking tee and in general play, as well as closing out the match with a show of pace to cross for a five-pointer of his own.

The backrow was again tireless with Mark Chisholm acting as a battering ram through the midfield, Julian Salvi playing hard at the ball throughout the match and Stephen Hoiles directing play up field as well as demonstrating his ball-playing ability stepping into first receiver on many occasions.

Captain Alister Campbell, who again controlled the lineout, showed off his hard ball-running ability netting his second try in as many weeks.

The centre pairing of Adam Ashley-Cooper and Gene Fairbanks were again tight in defence and strong with the ball while Tim Curran capped off a first-class tournament with two tries in his first run-on appearance.

The Brumbies’ intention of playing an expansive game was shown early in the piece when Huxley and Hoiles pushed the ball wide to put Curran in space. The fullback linked with flyer Frnacis Fainifo to help put the Brumbies ahead 7-0 after three minutes.

A penalty goal to Reds centre Lloyd Johansson capitalised on some good field position for the Queenslanders. However it was Brumbies’ winger Tim Wright who was the next to cross for a five-pointer when he found himself on the end of a Huxley cut-out pass to cross in the corner after bumping off his opposite, Caleb Brown.

The Brumbies were in again three minutes later when Ashley-Cooper cut through out wide before Fairbanks delivered a deft inside ball to Curran from the following phase, who scored under the posts. Huxley’s successful conversion rounded out the 21-3 half-time score.

After withdrawing from last weekend’s match due to a calf strain, Mark Gerrard entered the fray off the bench in the 49th minute to make his debut at flyhalf.

The move took just nine minutes to reap rewards when wide passes from Gerrard and Huxley found a rampaging Campbell in the backline who charged 30 metres to touchdown.

Chisholm was unlucky to be held up over the line in the 61st minute before Reds fullback John Dart completed a 14-point turnaround when he swooped on a Gerrard cut-out pass from the ensuing scrum to race 80 metres to score.

Ashley-Cooper produced a slick one-handed pass to put Curran in for his second six minutes later before Caleb Brown hit and spun his way out of a tackle to cross from close range for the Reds with 10 minutes remaining.

Huxley capped off a stellar performance by racing 30 metres down the left-hand flank to score five minutes from full time to bring his personal tally to 17 points for the evening.