29 April 2007

BRUMBIES BEAT CRUSADERS 15-6

| johnboy
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It was ugly but it was GOOD.

Saying goodbye to local legends George Gregan and Steve Larkham as well as the amazing Jeremy Paul the Brumbies went straight up the guts and smashed the previously impervious Canterbury Crusaders through the forwards.

Their were two black spots in the night, one was the lack of tries, and the other was Jon Stanhope, while unveiling the “Gregan-Larkham”stand, expressing what an ornament to the game of Rugby League they had been. When the crowd started booing he explained it showed “where I come from”. Some might take this to mean “go to hell I hate you”. Not only was it Our Brave Leader’s first Brumbies game but he also put out a media release.

Keo has an impartial take on the match.

There may not have been a try scored in Canberra but this was a game of near-Test match intensity — not surprising if you consider six of the 30 starting players had more than 100 Super Rugby caps.

The Crusaders weren’t at their best, losing seven line-outs and often struggling at scrum time. The Brumbies also blew several scoring opportunities, most memorably when Stirling Mortlock knocked on late in the game with an open tryline in front of him. However, despite the high error rate it remained an absorbing contest.

Big thanks to Mick for taking up my offer of a free ticket. Brumbies management should note that the most vocal crowd of many years coincided with my return to the members section. Sort out my seat and some free beer and it’ll be just like the good old days.


[One of seven lineout wins against the throw!]

Even at 30 minutes to kickoff the queuing just to get in was significant:

Before kickoff the ‘Saders drilled their scrum hard, for all the good it did the hapless pygmies.

For all the good it did them, the Brumbies backs dominated the pre match. There might be a lesson here.

We couldn’t see the sign from where we sat, but here’s what they’ve put on the roof of the smaller covered area while the violent Queenslander (in my opinion) holds the big stand.

Bumbies walk on

We were very worried about doing firework celebration before the game.

We really stuck it up the champs in the scrums

At half time the Navy flew a Seahawk into the stadium to lash us with rain driven into our faces and impress us wit the awesome power with which they could make spectators miserable on a cold wet night. We weren’t sure if the light on the rotors was St Elmo’s fire or just light on water.

And after the game it came to goodbyes

Larkham gets lifted

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The Eddie Jones memorial crapper

Kennardly – Roff was magificent and responsible for many of my best Brumbies memories. My sadness was that they did not name Brumby Jack yeccch!) after Craig Sweeny, an ageing genial giant of a lock from the early days whose nickname was Horse. Knox, Kafer, Robinson, Noriega, Caputo and so many others have contributed and their names should all be recorded somewhere. Perhaps name a beer tap after Justin Harrison.

Joe Roff should at least get one of the Terraces named after him – he was simply brilliant.

haha yeah, this is why i mainly sit in the south terrace, that way if someone stands up in front of me i dont have to throw beer cans at them to get them to move.

Crabb – the weather was looking a bit iffy and icky, and one of the group I was in had to think hard about going. I felt much the same. Projected over the whole crowd, it suggests there may have been more presales than showed up.

Mess – you are dead right. If you get there early, you can relax and watch the pre-match stuff (last night a pretty good game between Wests and Tuggers, the latter with a number 10 who will go far). On the other hand, you know that you will have the first 10-15 minutes of the first half destroyed by the dopes (mostly, I’m sure it’s necessity with some) who (a) show up late, (b) can’t work out why they can’t find their seat in the wrong bay, (c) stand in the stairs between bays blocking everyone’s view while they try to work out (b) and then (d) decide they need a (i) beer/(ii) pie/(iii) toilet visit/(iv) ciggie every 5 minutes.

I think someone should open a venue with no football but with overpriced pies and beer, crowded, stinky toilets and the opportunity to obstruct views of anything at all and try to get that end of the crowd to attend. They would see as much football as atpresent, and be able to focus on what they really want to do – irritate other people.

Anyone else surprised at the size of the crowd? I would have thought that this game, of all of them, should have been a sell-out.

I wondered if Stanhope was trying to be funny. Or whether he was just a geek who didn’t know the difference (cue Bob Carr, Paul Keating). Ultimately I out it down to the Karl Rove McManus effect – you know, the slips everyone makes and no-one gives a monkey’s about unless they’re playing some kind of political game. But I might be over-analysing.

i was there round 7, stood in line for max 5 mins. while there were alot of people, they were entering the gates pretty quickly

“”expressing what an ornament to the game of Rugby League they had been”” That’s not a typo then – jeez…

I make it a habit to turn up at least an hour before kick off. the advantages are,

1. you get a decent car park,
2. You dont have to wait to get tickets,
3.you can relax and have a few beers without having to wait an hour to get one,
4. You can watch the lower grade matches which can be pretty exciting ( if they have the lower grade matches, they do at the raiders, its been a while since i have been to a brumbies game)
5. you get to see all the game instead of wondering in 20 mins after kick off, and the score is already e.g 14-0.

Granted if you have prior commitments, then it makes it hard to be early, but i think if everyone made an effort to leave even 10 – 20 mins earlier they wouldnt have these problems. Or pre buy your tickets if you plan to go. Or if you like missing half of the first half, then continue on as normal.

Well this was a 7.30 game, so the congestion was everyone turning up early at the same time.

When are Canberran’s going to learn to show up a little bit earlier, at every footy game whether it be league or union, there is always people still waiting to get in at kick off. Last raiders home game they had to delay kick off by 15 mins because there were 5000 people still waiting to get in at 7pm. Has that ever happened at a union game?

If H.L.Mencken can be entertaining, so can this website.

10 past seven I think.

Oh yeah i meant to ask, what time were those photos of the line up outside taken?

Two incidents in a long and glorious career is enough to label him little better than a thug? But your right, you have your opinions and i have mine which is basically what makes this website so damn entertaining.

And the attack on a prone Michael O’Connor in State of Origin?

In any event, we are entitled to our opinions.

Mal was a truly great rugby league player, I’ll give you that.

Innocent untill proven guilty. and he was provoked anyway.

In other words, we want the Force to beat the Blues (c’mon Gits, for old times sake…), and the Saders to beat the Chiefs (both matches on Friday).
Forget about the rest. If we then beat the Highlanders we’ll be in the semis I reckon.

No way will the Bulls lose to the Reds in Pretoria next week – big problem for us.
Crusaders should beat Chiefs – good for us.
Sharks unlikely to lose to Stormers, even though it’s in Cape Town – not good for us.
Force could well beat Blues in Perth – good for us.
Whole thing is on a knife-edge, and of course this is all posited on us beating the Highlanders which I don’t think we’ve done before in the House of Pain…
-Ouch!

Interesting to see that you have labelled Mal Meninga, one of the greatest players ever to play Rugby League and one of the finest ever to wear the lime green, a “violent queenslander”

Seems totally appropriate to me.

I bet even Big Mal would agree he’s rather relieved the security tape from PJs in Tuggers went missing before his assault trial.

I’m glad the Crusaders stayed for the post match send offs too, great game

Hmm again unhappy about the whole Canberra footy.. The Brumbies dont even refer to themselves at the ACT Brumbies anymore!!

Where’s the story about the Canberra Raiders going back to haunt ex-coach Matt Elliot by flogging the Panthers 34-18 ???

swissbignose9:28 am 29 Apr 07

HOME SEMI FINAL POSSIBLE

Okay… now that I’ve got your attention. This could be possible if the Sharks, Bulls, and Blues lose next week, the Brumbies get a bonus point, and the Sharks don’t, and the For and Against is in our favour. Long shot, I know.

So… the scenarios for next week. These results are predicated on the Brumbies winning (without or without the bonus point). The asterix against the placing indicates that the placing could be different depending on the Brumbies scoring a bonus point and other teams not getting a bonus point. In the case that Brumbies get a favourable bonus point, the placings would move up.

Blues lose 4th on the ladder
Blues, Bulls lose 3rd
Blues, Bulls, Sharks lose 3rd*
Blues, Sharks lose 4th*
Bulls lose 4th
Bulls, Sharks lose 4th*
Crusaders lose 6th
Crusaders, Blues lose 5th*
Crusaders, Blues, Bulls lose 4th*
Crusaders, Bulls lose 5th*
Crusaders, Bulls, Sharks lose 5th*
Crusaders, Sharks lose 6th*
Crusaders, Sharks, Blues lose 5th*
Crusaders, Sharks, Blues, Bulls lose 4th*

Obviously, this is all dependent on the Brumbies winning, and in all likeliness, the Blues are my favourites to lose, so that we can meet the Crusaders in Christchurch. We don’t want the Crusaders to be beaten by the Chiefs unless the Blues and Bulls lose as well.

We’ll know whether they’ve lost and the Crusaders have won before starting our game against the Highlanders.

Thanks for tick! It was a gutsy solid game. We withheld them for the first half of the first half and then pushed and pushed for a strong win.

Most exciting tryless game I have seen for a while!

Interesting to see that you have labelled Mal Meninga, one of the greatest players ever to play Rugby League and one of the finest ever to wear the lime green, a “violent queenslander”

I’d be quite happy if the Sharks drop a game tonight! What we all need to be doing is backing the Force next weekend.

Terrific game and wonderful that the crowd got right in behind the boys.
Speeches at the end were gracious too: Bernie, JP telling us how much they love their wives etc.
We’re still in 6th spot, need the Bulls & Sharks to drop a game next week!

It was an epic and wonderful game, proving that rugby is not just about scoring tries. The farewells were a sad moment, but I was pleased to see the Crusaders stay on the field while they happened. Quality act from a quality team.

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