Chiefs down Brumbies in 12-try Super Rugby Pacific duel

03/01/2025 01:33 AM

SATURDAY WRAP: The Brumbies have fallen painfully short once again in another high-scoring Super Rugby Pacific thriller in Hamilton.

Despite running in six tries, the Brumbies walked away from the Waikato Stadium with nothing tangible to show for their enterprise and endeavour after suffering a 34-49 loss to the table-topping Chiefs on Saturday.

The heartbreaker follows a 45-42 defeat to the Western Force in another 12-try extravaganza last Saturday night in Canberra.

The sapping loss also somewhat soured celebrations for veteran hooker James Slipper, who joined Aaron Smith as Super Rugby's most-capped player with his 185th appearance.

But there were wide smiles everywhere in the Chiefs camp, none bigger than Gideon Wrampling's after he grabbed a telling second-half try-scoring double with his first two touches of the ball.

The Brumbies deserved the halftime lead after outscoring the Chiefs three tries to two in the opening section.

All of the Brumbies' tries, to lock Nick Frost, flyhalf Declan Meredith and speedster winger Corey O'Toole, came out wide after the forwards methodically drew in the Chiefs defence to create opportunities on the edges.

But two conversions and a penalty goal from Damian McKenzie to go with quickfire tries in the space of three minutes to flyhalf Josh Jacomb and centre Anton Lienert-Brown kept the Chiefs in the game.

The Chiefs blew the game open with two more quick tries early in the second half, splitting the Brumbies defence right up the middle on both occasions.

First livewire centre Quinn Tupaea reeled in his own chip kick, then Wrampling cashed in on a beautifully worked set play from a lineout to cross seconds after joining the fray.

Suddenly trailing 29-15, the Brumbies needed a spark.

Instead they went back to their bread and butter to score from a rolling maul through Lachlan Lonergan.

When Andy Muirhead touched down shortly after, following the Brumbies' own lineout on halfway, the scores were all tied up again at 29-all.

But the deadlock lasted only a matter of seconds after skipper Tupou Vaa'i regained possession from the kick-off and sent Wrampling scampering down the left touchline for his second strike.

Another Chiefs penalty stretched the home side's lead to beyond a converted try with 10 minutes remaining.

Muirhead's second try gave the Brumbies a glimmer of hope, but the Chiefs were not to be denied, remaining unbeaten after Lienert-Brown added the cherry on top with the 12th try of the match on fulltime.

Saturday's scores and scorers:

Chiefs 49-34 Brumbies

The scorers:

For Chiefs:
Tries: Lienert-Brown 2, Jacomb, Tupaea, Wrampling 2
Cons: McKenzie 4, Jacomb
Pens: McKenzie 2, Jacomb

For Brumbies:
Tries: Frost, Meredith, Toole, Lonergan, Muirhead 2
Cons: Debreczeni (2)

Teams:

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Josh Jacomb, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Simon Parker, 7 Jahrome Brown, 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Tupou Vaa'i (captain), 4 Josh Lord, 3 George Dyer, 2 Brodie McAllister, 1 Aidan Ross.
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Sione Ahio, 19 Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20 Kaylum Boshier, 21 Xavier Roe, 22 Daniel Rona, 23 Gideon Wrampling

Brumbies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andy Muirhead, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Ollie Sapsford, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Declan Meredith, 9 Ryan Lonergan (captain), 8 Charlie Cale, 7 Luke Reimer, 6 Rory Scott, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Lachlan Lonergan, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Rhys van Nek, 19 Lachlan Shaw, 20 Judah Saumaisue, 21 Harrison Goddard, 22 Jack Debreczeni, 23 Hudson Creighton

Referee: James Doleman
Assistant Referees: Marcus Playle, Fraser Hannon
TMO: Richard Kelly