It’s been another close game to finish Round 6 of the 2024 Super Rugby Season, but this time it was between the 1st and 2nd best Australian Super Rugby teams right now as the Brumbies were able to shut down the Queensland Reds just in time ahead of the final hooter on their home turf once again (Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane) by just one point in the end, 19-20. The first-half was quiet with both teams opening their respective tries before Noah Lolesio snuck a successful penalty goal where Tom Lynagh couldn’t do for the Reds not long before half-time, 7-10. Yes, the Reds were able to get themselves back on track with a penalty TRY followed by another big score. But then they couldn’t stop a destructive Brumbies attack and also their scrambled defnese with plenty of mistakes being made under pressure and that was the game itself, with the Reds having to suffer another loss in recent weeks after losing to the Western Force last Saturday while the Brumbies took the win once again.
Tom Wright was outstanding from the back at No.15 tonight for the Brumbies following his two TRY performance at Suncorp Stadium v the Queensland Reds. He offers pretty much everything that you need to know every time he has the ball such as kicking out of trouble as well as his defensive contribution and most importantly in attack where he can beat his man 1 on 1 while getting the job done with blistering pace. Then Noah Lolesio put in an unbelievable performance in the No.10 Brumbies shirt whose conversion kicks has been spotless that gave them a slight advantage while prioritising for the best of the team. It’s so important for Noah to emphasise this which is so crucial for his team to spot the Reds isolated and scrappy attack before he was able to open up his attack easier and also in defense too, particularly through the latter stages of the 2nd half.
The Brumbies are still by far the best Australian Super Rugby team and it’s kinda a surprise not seeing them both play at the World Cup in France last year which was a disaster as new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will look to get them back in the squad for the 2nd half of 2024. Now can they go all the way and stand themselves out as the best of Super Rugby this year? We’ll see having lost once to the Chiefs back in Round 2 (Super Round) but for now, they got the Waratahs next Saturday.
And Josh Nasser has made an immediate impact off the bench that puts the Reds back on track in the 2nd half – one was a penalty TRY followed by a TRY himself. He was able to correct some of the team’s mistakes from earlier on which was so crucial when the starting hooker Matt Faessler didn’t do well at line-out time but their scrappy discipline unfortunately allowed the Brumbies to bounce back before they were closed out under pressure with time running out against the clock at the end there. The Reds haven’t been bad which reflects their good start of the year but losing games isn’t a good look lately as they now got a break next week & then hopefully get back to winning games again starting with Moana Pasifika.
