It was a needed turnaround for the Red Devils after they were beaten by Barraba by a similar margin last week after leading 12-nil after about 10 minutes.

“We fixed up all of last week’s mistakes,” Red Devils co-coach Tim Walsh said.

“The forwards worked as a unit and the backs played really well.

“Everything that was bad about last week was good about today.”

The backs did most of the damage on the scoreboard.

Outside centre Scott Mitchell led the way, jagging three, while winger DJ Morrison crossed twice.

Their starts have been a bit of an issue for them but, as they did against the Rams, they started well.

“We were probably pressing their line for 10 minutes before we got any points but we kept our cool,” Walsh said.

“And once we got one we got three or four.”

They had the bonus point in hand by half-time and were well on their way to the points, leading 22-5.

“Everything we were looking for they did,” Walsh said.

“The forwards worked hard off the ball. They were backing each other up.

“There were lots of pop balls,” he said.

“Then that front foot ball gave the backs the chance to cut them up.”

They were probably helped, Walsh said, by the Brumbies’ ill discipline.

The home side had three players binned at various stages and were down to 13 at one stage.

The Red Devils too lost Lincoln Stewart for 10 minutes.

Lachie Johnstone continued to impress in his switch to number eight, topping the zone points and picking up the club one.

“He got three turnovers at the breakdown himself,” Walsh said.

The backrow as a whole were very effective. Between him, Sam Michelsen and Joe Duffy they would have got seven turnovers or forced penalties for holding on in the first half alone.

Matt Roseby also had a strong game in the second row. He earned the three points and shared the players’ player with five-eighth Peter Henderson, who picked up the two.

The Brumbies took a while to get going and paid the price.

“We didn’t come out firing like we’d hoped and we didn’t bring that edge of physicality we wanted,” coach Anthony Kent said.

“It took us a long time to wake up.”

And by then they were having to play catch-up, which is hard when you don’t have a lot of ball.

“We just couldn’t hold onto possession and, as a result, we were defending all the time,” Kent said.

They defended reasonably well, he thought, but that eventually told.

Zac Rahn, Doug McKillop and Richard Thew were their best.

Thew was back to his customary fullback role after filling in at five-eighth last week, and did really well.