Waratahs and Brumbies emerge victorious in Australian derby round

Mon, Mar 9, 2015, 1:00 AM
AAP
by AAP

The NSW Waratahs and the Aquis Brumbies were the two winners of the Australian sides in round four of the Asteron Life Super Rugby Competition.

With the Western Force testing the Brumbies’ resolution in Canberra with the score of 27-15 in favour of the home side, it was a different story in Brisbane with the Waratahs accounting for the St. George Queensland Reds in a brutal and physical clash, 23-5.

The Brumbies remain the leaders of the Australian Conference sitting in third overall position with the NSW Waratahs hot on their heels in sixth. You can view the full ladder here.

Aquis Brumbies 27 defeated the Western Force 15

The four try, bonus point win by the Brumbies ensured they maintained top spot in the Australian conference.

The Western Force will be left to rue missed opportunities in the match as they pressured the Brumbies’ line on a number of occasions and created opportunities in attack.

The match also saw the return of Qantas Wallaby, Stephen Moore to the Brumbies side with the hooker managing a solid 53 minutes of game time.

Moore was positive with the Brumbies performance after the win.

““These Australian derbies are always very tight and toughly contested so I’m happy to get away with a five-point win. It’s good to win again at home and we’ve got two tough away games coming up,” Moore said.

“I thought we were a bit scratchy coming out of our half tonight so we’re going to have to work on that during the week. As we go forward we’re going to have to be a bit tidier than that.

“But I did think our defence was really good tonight, we fought hard for each other we stuck to our systems and we kept them to 15 points, which if you do that you’ll win most of your games.”

The Western Force will host a crucial clash against the rested Melbourne Rebels at nib Stadium This Friday 13 March as the Force look to bounce back in front of the Sea of Blue.

NSW Waratahs 23 defeated the St.George Queensland Reds 5

The NSW Waratahs overpowered the Queensland Reds in Brisbane as the Reds outfit, plagued by injuries was unable to get momentum against last year’s Champions.

Tries to Bernard Foley and Peter Betham ensured that the Bob Templeton Cup returned to Waratahs HQ for another year as Foley amassed a personal 18 point haul throughout the game.

Despite the Waratahs missing opportunities to score more points, Head Coach Michael Cheika took positives from the match.

“I think we created a lot of good play but we just didn’t finish like we have in the past.

“I like the way we created a lot of play and we kept going with that and I liked our physicality and work rate.

“They are the things we need to get back at.

“I was very happy with the defence as well, which was a big focus for us. We have and a few tries scored against in the opening rounds and it was an area we wanted to focus our game on.”

The Queensland Reds get the opportunity to bounce back from their defeat with a home game against the ACT Brumbies on Saturday 14 March at Suncorp Stadium.

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