The Brumbies have maintained their unbeaten run to start the season with a dominant 36-17 win over the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park.
The ACT-based side were the overwhelming favourites tonight, up against a winless Rebels outfit who were coming off a shock defeat to tournament newcomers Fijian Drua.
Early on it was all the Brumbies, who opened the match with three consecutive tries, courtesy of Rob Valetini (16′), Len Ikitau (27′) and Tom Wright (35′).
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When Wright grabbed his double in the early stages of the second half to hand the Brumbies a 24-3 lead at the time, the task was simply too much to overcome for the home side.
A late try to Richard Hardwick cut the deficit to just 12 points with 10 minutes to go, but from there the Rebels never threatened to edge any closer.
“With results, people always think there’s a lack of effort or intent, it’s definitely not a thing,” said Rebels skipper Michael Wells.
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“No one comes out on the field and puts their body and livelihood on the line for 80 minutes to half a– it.
“If we were questioning guys, I guarantee they wouldn’t be part of this program and part of this culture. There is never any doubt guys are working hard enough.
“We have guys coming in early, coaches not sleeping and people going timeout with [seeing] their families… we’re definitely putting in the time and we’ve got to be patient, and we’ve got to be better.”
Brumbies fullback Tom Banks said it was a relieving win for his side.
“They put us under a lot of pressure,” said Banks.
“At times they probably didn’t put the points on the board, but we certainly felt that pressure.
“It was a really tough grind to win.”
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