Brumbies confident in blueprint to chop down Chiefs

Nic White greeted Brumbies fans who trekked out to their final training session before Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific semi-final and delivered a typically cheery message.

“See you in two weeks,” the Brumbies stand-in skipper told the supporters just hours before his team boarded flights to New Zealand for the biggest test in club rugby.

Should they win their semi-final against the Chiefs, they will stay in New Zealand and tackle either the Blues or Crusaders in the final as they try to become the first Australian team to win the title since 2014.

But that will require becoming the first Australian team to ever win an SRP final in New Zealand in Saturday’s clash with the top-ranked Chiefs in Hamilton.

“We haven’t mentioned that, but no doubt you’ll be writing something in the paper about it, so (the players) will be reading about it,” coach Stephen Larkham said.

“We’ve got to get our preparation right, we’ve got to make sure we’re not getting overawed by the situation.

“There’s no point bringing up it’s a (semi-final), all games in Super Rugby are intense and Test-match quality when you come up against the best teams.

“Irrespective of finals, it’s trying to put a performance together … all year we’ve been developing our ability to perform on the weekend, through our preparation (and) this will be no different.”

The Chiefs enter the semis with an outstanding 14-1 record this season and have regularly brushed teams aside on their home turf, but if the Brumbies need any encouragement the seemingly impossible task is doable they should look no further than one of the Australian neighbours.

Queensland beat the Chiefs in New Zealand in round 12 and gave them a serious scare in last weekend’s quarter-final, even scoring three tries to the Chiefs’ two in a cagey affair where kicking precision outlined a potential blueprint to knock them off.

Larkham reflected on his own side’s clash with the Chiefs in round 14, where they won the territory battle but struggled deep in their attacking zone in a 31-21 loss.

“(They’re the) best defensive team in the competition, and you’ll see that with their play,” he said.

“They’re very good at staying connected on the field, they’re very good at making smart decisions around the breakdown as to whether they have an opportunity to steal the ball or not, and if they’re not stealing the ball, very quick into position.

“Once we got inside their 22m we had 60-plus phases in there, which is pretty much unheard of … we’ve certainly spoken about the fact we need to be on.”