Super 12 finalists in waiting

It's early days, far too soon to be getting excited and talking about potential champions. But after the Brumbies 32-21 win over the Crusaders last night in Canberra, there's a huge temptation to break with protocol, get down the TAB and throw the house, car and kitchen sink on these two teams once again meeting in the final.

The Blues and Stormers, probably the Hurricanes, too, will hardly be buying into that kind of talk. Behind closed doors, though, their respective coaches will know that the Brumbies and Crusaders are the teams to beat.

There are rottweilers who would not have been able to match the Crusaders and Brumbies for tenacity last night and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder sufferers who would have admired both team's dedication to structure and order.

That the Brumbies were able to emerge victorious was largely due to their innate ability to score points when they are in possession deep in opposition territory. Even heroic Crusaders defence couldn't hold up when faced by wave after wave of hefty runners such as Owen Finegan, Radike Samo and Jeremy Paul.

It spoke volumes about the ability and resolve of the Brumbies that they were able to reach the halftime break with their noses in front. Perhaps with the memory of their last visit to Bruce Stadium still fresh in their minds, the Crusaders took exclusive control of the football for the fist 15 minutes. Most other teams would have curled into a ball and hoped things didn't turn too ugly.

The Crusaders would have been disappointed at their inability to convert that early pressure into points but they were not helped by Dan Carter's unusually faulty radar. Nor would they have been enamoured by the decision by Mark Lawrence to opt out of refereeing the breakdown, allowing the arch poacher George Smith to steal the ball at his leisure.

Lawrence was none too fussy either about whether anyone observed the back foot which enabled Brumbies players to disrupt quick possession without fear of punishment.

But the Brumbies shouldn't be given a hard time for exploiting loose officiating. It's the street wise sides who win trophies.

And really it would be wrong to spend time on the negatives when there was so much to enjoy across the field.

There was the rejuvenated Justin Marshall-Andrew Mehrtens combination. These two old-timers have been all but written off having been left to stew at home when the All Blacks went to Europe last November. They wound the clock back last night, both looking the class acts they are. It may sound ridiculous given the hype surrounding Carter, but these two could yet find themselves in the No 9 and No 10 jerseys against the Lions.

Where would that leave Carter? At fullback where he looked comfortable and used his booming left boot to good effect in the first half.

There was the head-to-head battle between Richie McCaw and Smith which didn't yield a winner but never once stopped being compelling. Chris Jack and Mark Chisholm had a ding-dong battle in the lineout and there was the sheer joy of twice watching Finegan break into open space with the speed of an asthmatic ant carrying some heavy shopping. In setting up Scott Fava for his second try, Finegan looked for all the world as if he was wading through treacle.

Marshall's try at the death was testament to the fact this Crusaders side doesn't give up. They are notorious slow starters, but already seem to be not too far off top gear.

It also has to be remembered that Canberra is one of the toughest grounds in the tournament to get a result away from home.


Brumbies: Gerrard, Rathbone (Norton-Knight), Mortlock (Beckett), Fairbanks, Ashley-Cooper, Larkham 10, Gregan, Fava, Smith, Finegan, Chisholm, Samo, Shepherdson, Paul, Henderson.

Crusaders: Carter, Gear, Laulala, Mauger, Ralph, Mehrtens, Marshall, Broomhall, McCaw, Thorne, Filipo (O'Neil), Jack, Johnstone, Flynn, Somerville. 


- HERALD ON SUNDAY