ACT Brumbies show attacking flair chasing Super Rugby Pacific home quarterfinal

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The ACT Brumbies may shed a reputation for predictability as they keep up a strong campaign for a home quarterfinal in Super Rugby Pacific, perhaps even a challenge for first place.

The Hamilton-based Chiefs ended their winning start to the season at 10 matches last weekend with a surprise loss to the Queensland Reds and now are only five points ahead of the Brumbies at the top of the table.

The Brumbies pulled off an outstanding come-from-behind win last weekend over the Dunedin-based Highlanders which showed a new dimension to their play. The Highlanders led 32-26 after 60 minutes but the Brumbies finished with two late tries to take the match 48-32.

One of those tries went to winger Corey Toole, who now has seven tries this season and is second on the list of clean breaks with 16, behind Blues winger Caleb Clarke.

Toole received glowing praise from Brumbies head coach and former Wallabies flyhalf Stephen Larkham, a man with an eye for exceptional back-play.

“I love watching him,” Larkham said. “I don’t think I’m unlike anyone else, I’m a huge fan. And I just love the fact when he’s got a bit of space in front of him he just lights up and it’s amazing to have a player like that, he gives you so much confidence on the field."

Toole has been a large part of the reinvention of the Brumbies this season as they chase their fourth Super Rugby title and first since 2004. The Brumbies still like to play structured rugby and excel at the set piece but Toole and others have added a new dimension to the Brumbies’ attack.

“We’re a really exciting team to watch in attack,” Larkham said. “Really happy with the way we had the ability to score tries when we needed to."

The Brumbies will take an understrength team to Perth this weekend for a match against the eighth-place Western Force, which has proved a banana skin for some teams. They have a tough match next weekend against the Chiefs before finishing the regular season against the 10th-place Melbourne Rebels.

The Brumbies traveled to Western Australia from Canberra without eight of their Wallabies representatives after coach Stephen Larkham made 12 changes to his starting side for Saturday’s match. Australia’s Rugby World Cup resting policy sees James Slipper, Lachlan Lonergan, Allan Alaalatoa, Nick Frost, Rob Valetini, Nic White, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright rested for the match against the Force,

The Chiefs will face the Wellington-based Hurricanes on Saturday and will have to improve sharply on the muddled and unmotivated performance they produced against the Reds which brought an end to their record winning streak.

Two weeks ago head coach Clayton McMillan warned rivals the then unbeaten Chiefs still were capable of improvement. Last weekend they showed feet of clay, foundering against a Reds team which turned them around with deep kicks and shut down their attack with flat defense.

“We were disappointed to lose but we’ve got to give credit to the Reds who played with a desperation that we didn’t quite match,” McMillan said. “Having said that, I didn’t think any of our players played poorly. We were just half a second behind in a lot of areas and that was the difference.”

The Hurricanes will pose a stiff challenge after last weekend running in 11 tries in a club record 71-22 win over Moana Pasifika.

The Auckland-based Blues take on the Reds this weekend and will have to avoid a similar loss to stay in touch with the top four teams. They are fifth after last weekend’s 15-3 loss to the Crusaders, three points out of fourth place.

The Crusaders will play Moana Pasifika on Friday.

___

More AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports