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Third time lucky Brumbies crush Sharks, 36-6, in Super 12 final
Updated: Saturday May 26, 2001 11:12 AM
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Joe Roff scored two tries and Andrew Walker kicked 21 points Saturday as the ACT Brumbies thrashed Coastal Sharks 36-6 to become the first non-New Zealand team to win the Super 12 rugby union championship. The Brumbies led 9-6 with 30 minutes remaining before Roff turned the match with two tries within four minutes. Hooker Jeremy Paul made a barging blindside run to create room on the right flank and then delivered the final pass to an unmarked Roff, who dived over in the right corner in the 53rd minute. The Australian test winger scored his next five-pointer after storming onto a flat pass 40 meters (yards) out, splitting the defense and racing to score under the posts. Walker landed both conversions to give the Brumbies a 23-6 margin.
David Giffin scored a try in the 68th minute which added to a horror night for rookie Sharks' flyhalf Butch James, the ACT lock charging down a punt kick from the young pivot and winning a chase to the ball as it rolled into a rain-soaked in-goal. James missed three goals which could have changed the complexion of the match, landing just two goals from five attempts.
By contrast Walker, a dual rugby league and rugby union international, kicked all three conversions and slotted five penalties from five attempts, including two in the first half when he traded kicks with James to produce a 6-6 deadlock at halftime. Brumbies' skipper George Gregan said he knew nothing could stop the ACT franchise from winning the Southern Hemisphere's premier provincial rugby crown after the disappointment of a last-minute loss to Canterbury in last season's decider. "There was just an attitude that no one was going to take this one from us," he said. "We believed in this moment and we finally achieved it." Brumbies and Australian test flyhalf Steve Larkham said the 20-19 loss to the Crusaders at Canberra's Bruce Stadium last season was now "a distant memory." The win was another milestone for Larkham and Gregan, who have combined to help Australia win its first ever Tri-Nations series, the 1999 Rugby World Cup and now spearheaded the first Australian team to win the Super 12.
The Brumbies earned home advantage by finishing atop the standings after the preliminary rounds and then defeating Queensland Reds 30-6 in last Saturday's semifinal. The Durban-based Sharks reached the decider after placing second in the standings and then beating Golden Cats, also of South Africa, in the semis. The victory was bittersweet for Brumbies and Australian loose forward Owen Finegan, who missed his second successive final. Last season, he helped the Brumbies reach the playoff and then was injured for the decider. He was an integral part of the Brumbies' 2001 campaign until last week's semifinal, when he was yellow carded for stomping on a rival's head and subsequently banned from all rugby for five weeks. The Brumbies, losing finalists to Auckland in 1997 and last season, were playing without regular goal kicker Stirling Mortlock, who injured his shoulder while scoring a try against the Reds last week. Auckland Blues won the first two Super 12 championships -- beating the Sharks in 1996 and the Brumbies in '97 -- and Canterbury Crusaders won the next three titles. Scorers: ACT 36 (Joe Roff 2, David Giffin tries; Andrew Walker 3 conversion, 5 penalty goals) def. SHARKS 6 (Butch James 2 penalty goals).
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