Gerrard and Roff Heroics Give ACT Brumbies Super 12 Title

CANBERRA, 23 May 2004 — Winger Mark Gerrard scored three tries while Joe Roff became the Super 12’s highest tryscorer as the ACT Brumbies beat the Canterbury Crusaders 47-38 in the Super 12 final yesterday.

The victory gave the Brumbies their second Southern Hemisphere title. Their previous success was in 2001. The Australian side scored five tries inside the first 19 minutes to open up a 33-0 lead but the Crusaders cut the final margin to nine points with an improved second-half performance.

Gerrard’s three tries capped a superb all round game for the left winger while fullback Roff crossed twice to take his career tally to 57, eclipsing the 56 scored by former All Blacks fullback Christian Cullen.

Jeremy Paul and Matt Giteau also crossed for the Brumbies while Richie McCaw, Aaron Mauger, Brad Thorn, Chris King, Casey Laulala and Dan Carter scored for the Crusaders, who won the title four times between 1998 and 2002 but have lost the last two finals.

The Brumbies could not have made a better start with Roff forcing his way over in the right corner after a blunder by Crusaders fullback Ben Blair in the first minute of the game.

They scored again in the fifth minute when Gerrard dived over in the left corner and again in the 11th minute when Paul plunged over.

Gerrard grabbed his second five minutes later then Giteau finished off a long break to dive under the posts and give the Brumbies an astonishing 33-0 lead.

Crusaders coach Robbie Deans introduced Andrew Mehrtens just after the Brumbies jumped out to their huge lead and the former All Blacks flyhalf had an immediate impact, inspiring the New Zealanders’ fight back.

McCaw and Mauger scored tries to cut the deficit to 33-14 at half-time before Gerrard gave the Brumbies breathing space when he completed his hat trick immediately after the re-start. The Crusaders gave themselves a sniff of victory when Thorn, King and Laulala all scored second half tries to close the gap to 12 points with 10 minutes to go but Roff’s second try sealed the result before Carter completed a length-of-the-field multi-phase movement after the siren.