McKellar Delights In Brumbies Defence

Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 5:00 AM
Brumbies.rugby
by Brumbies.rugby
The Brumbies led at half time 12-5 and managed to get through the second half to win over their Australian rivals.
The Brumbies led at half time 12-5 and managed to get through the second half to win over their Australian rivals.

Plus500 Brumbies coach Dan McKellar has nothing but praise for his team after Friday’s 19-13 win over the NSW Waratahs.

The Brumbies led at half time 12-5 and managed to get through the second half only conceding one try to claim the win over their Australian rivals. 

After losing a close match to the Rebels last round where they let in 26 second half points, McKellar was pleased with his team’s display of defensive capability.

“I was really pleased. I just said to the boys then that it was off the back of our defence. It probably wasn’t pretty at times but we just stuck at it, stuck at it,” said the Brumbies head coach.

“On the back of last week we spoke a lot about dealing with pressure and momentum swings and I thought we were outstanding there tonight. We stuck to what works well for us when we were under pressure and that game was off the back of our defence, and our effort.” 

This was the second match of the season that David Pocock has sat out due to injury, but McKellar says his backrow players, especially Lachlan McCaffrey, have shown that they are more than capable of stepping up to the challenge.

“One thing I think it gives us is confidence. Understanding that we’re a team and we don’t rely on individuals. I thought our backrowers again were very good,” explained McKellar. 

“(Pete) Samu’s impact off the bench; McCaffrey played with a really sore body there, he was sore at half time. (Tom) Cusack was the same, and then Rob (Valetini) was good as well, so really pleased that we’ve picked up another win and I’m sure we’ll win a couple when David’s back as well.” 

“(McCaffrey) has been great, I thought the first two games of this year – Rebels and Chiefs – he was outstanding. We were off the pace as a group against the Hurricanes, and I freshened him up last week off the back of a pretty big trip to New Zealand and he benefitted from that.” 

McKellar says that McCaffrey has stepped into a real leadership role for the team this year. 

“He just gives us good leadership, when Christian’s kicking points, just making sure we’ve got that connection and clarity around what we do next, what’s important with our next action. McCaffrey’s an outstanding leader, and an important player in our team.”

Tom Ross ran on for his Super Rugby debut in the second half and the coach was impressed with what he saw.

“He was good, scrummaged well didn’t he? I remember bringing Tom in here, he was 18 years of age and the kid just had a thirst for scrums. The only bloke I’ve ever seen like it was Dan Palmer. Palms looked forward to knock-ons and Rossy is the same,” laughed the Brumbies coach. 

“He just loves scrummaging, and if you want to be a tighthead prop you’ve got to tick that box and he does it well. He’s got a lot of other strong attributes to his game he’ll develop throughout his career but some big moments today he had to stand up and he’ll take a lot of confidence out of that.” 

The Brumbies will look to carry this form into next week when they face the Queensland Reds on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium.   

 
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