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'Ugly' Brumbies happy with win

Sunday 18th February 2007

Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher

Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher will take any victory, no matter how "ugly" they may be. Fisher said he was "pleased" with his team's 6-3 win over the Reds at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane at the weekend.

With the score balanced at 3-all for 59 minutes of the match, Brumbies fullback Julian Huxley drilled home a 35-metre penalty goal with eight minutes remaining to take the win against his former teammates.

"Winning ugly is better than losing ugly," Fishers said.

"To the Reds credit, they put a lot of pressure on our set piece. When you're not getting the clean ball you need, it makes it difficult to play the type of rugby we wanted to play. And while [the match] may not have been the best advertisement for rugby, I was pleased with the way we defended."

With each team unable to assert themselves for any length of time, the match degenerated into a stop-start affair with both sides relying heavily on the boots of Stephen Larkham/Julian Huxley and Berrick Barnes/Clinton Schifcofske respectively to make any inroads up field.

The Reds continued their simple but effective pick-and-drive game plan, while the Brumbies were unable to ignite their trademark wide running play.

With both sides often frustrated with the state of play, tempers frayed with the most notable flair-up occurring in the 15th minute when a melee spilled over the sideline. Surprisingly it was opposing openside flankers, George Smith and David Croft, seemingly not involved at the heart of the incident, who received yellow cards from referee Matt Goddard.