Brumbies dedicate season to Mackay - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Brumbies dedicate season to Mackay

By Karlis Salna 12/04/2009 02:50:06 PM Comments (0)

The Brumbies are dedicating the rest of their season to Shawn Mackay after keeping their Super 14 title quest alive with their emotional win over the Stormers.

Brumbies players wiped away tears as they stood in a pre-match circle on Saturday night and joined the Canberra Stadium crowd's applause to remember teammate Mackay who died in a Durban hospital five days earlier.

But they steeled themselves to eke out a 17-10 victory in atrociously wet conditions to be sitting five points out of the top four in a tightly contested ladder.

With a game in hand over the fourth-placed Waratahs, and a match against the third-placed Bulls in Canberra on Friday, the Brumbies have an opportunity to bridge the gap to the top four in the coming weeks but can't afford a slip up.

They have won both of their games since Mackay was left critically injured when hit by a car in a Durban street two weeks ago and face another emotional week with Mackay's funeral to be held in Sydney on Wednesday.

Fullback Mark Gerrard, who played superbly and kicked three penalties against the Stormers, said the rest of the season would also be played with Mackay in mind.

"It has been a fairly tough week for a lot of the boys and I think it was fitting for us to get away with a win like that," Gerrard said.

"We'll dedicate every game from now on in to Macca and hopefully we can do his family proud.

"We'll celebrate his life by winning games of rugby."

The No.18 jersey Mackay wore in the match against the Sharks two weeks ago, the night before he was hit by a car, has been retired for the rest of the season.

Halfback Patrick Phibbs, who played club rugby with Mackay at Randwick, and who scored the Brumbies only try against the Stormers, described the build up to the game as the most difficult week he had experienced.

"It was probably the toughest week of my life so far and one I wish that never happens again," Phibbs said.

"The win out there, that was all for Macca."

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