Brumbies defeat Sharks for bonus point - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Brumbies defeat Sharks for bonus point

By Mark Smith and Darrin Barnett 11/03/2006 10:54:04 PM Comments (0)

The Brumbies maintained their unbeaten run with a nailbiting 35-30 Super 14 victory over the Sharks at Canberra Stadium.

The Brumbies scored two tries in each half to secure their first bonus point for the season and hold their spot near the top of the Super 14 table.

Halfback George Gregan was again inspirational for the home team, setting up tries for lock Mark Chisholm and winger Mark Gerrard, before leaving the field half an hour early with a minor hip flexor complaint.

After the match, Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher said he expected the Wallabies captain to be back in action next week against the Blues in Auckland.

Fisher said he was pleased with his team's character, after they held on to win in front of more than 18,000 home fans.

The Sharks led 21-6 late in the first half after tries to captain AJ Venter and winger Henno Mentz before two late tries to the Brumbies brought them back to 21-18 at the break.

Despite scoring the only two tries of the second half and taking a handy 8-point lead, the last of five penalties from Sharks flyhalf Tony Brown brought the visitors back within five points with just three-and-a-half minutes to go.

But the Brumbies defensive line held strong and they held on for an emphatic victory.

"I thought we showed tremendous character out there," Fisher said.

"We know that we've got a good team; we know that we've got skilled players.

"But it's always been about if your attitude's good.

"We scored four tries and we haven't scored four tries this year so there's a lot of good things to come out of it."

The turning point of the match was when Shark's prop Deon Carstens was perhaps unluckily sent to the bin after a deliberate knock down with only five minutes remaining in the fist half.

Just after, the first of the Brumbies' two late first half tries was orchestrated by Gregan, who held off a Sharks defender before releasing a stunning offload to Chisolm, who crossed near the posts.

They completed the pair when a series of quick passes allowed captain Stirling Mortlock to cross in the corner.

The Brumbies almost shot into the lead immediately in the second half after they recovered their restart, but fullback Ben Batger was unable to break free of Sharks' fullback Percey Montgomery just metres from the line.

But the Sharks didn't hold the Brumbies out for long, with Gregan producing another cracking offload, which found Gerrard in open territory to score under the posts.

Gerrard was the top points scorer of the match with 26, while Mortlock also starred with two tries.

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