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Brumbies plot historic win in NZ to extend their year

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

A burning desire to send off departing skipper Nic White in style is driving the Brumbies’ quest for Super Rugby Pacific history in Hamilton.

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After surviving an epic finish against the Hurricanes in Canberra to extend their season, the Brumbies take on the table-topping Chiefs on Saturday intent on becoming the first Australian team to win a Super Rugby finals match in New Zealand.

The Western Force-bound White is among six players plus two coaches leaving the club at season’s end and lock Tom Hooper says the Brumbies’ opportunity to achieve a feat never previously attained is providing just the motivation required.

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“I saw a stat on TV that no Australian team had won in 14 (finals) games in New Zealand and we definitely want to put an end to that,” Hooper said on Monday.

“Someone’s got to be the first so why can’t it be us? The Brumbies have a really good history in finals footy so hopefully we can keep that going.

“There’s a lot to play for.”

But Hooper says as desperate as the Brumbies are to win the trophy, they yearn just as strongly to keep their campaign going for another two weeks, knowing the squad is breaking up.

“Teams that talk about culture are often teams that don’t really have it. I’m not going to sit here and say how good our culture is but the guy who has been our captain is moving on in two weeks,” he said.

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“We’ve got two really quality coaches moving on at the end of the season and we’re a tight-knit group. It’s the last time our 40-man squad – players and coaches – are going to be together so we want to share some special memories with those guys.

“We want to be a team in 10 years getting back together, getting on the beers, celebrating our 10-year reunion of something pretty special. We just have a mateship that extends beyond the field.”

After losing last year’s semi-final to the Blues in Auckland by one point, the Brumbies know winning across the Tasman is possible.

Stephen Larkham’s side also plan to borrow some of Queensland’s game plan after the Reds upset the Chiefs in New Plymouth last month before pushing them hard again in a 29-20 quarter-final loss on Saturday at Waikato.

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“Whatever Queensland did, they did it well. They beat them once and went close last week,” Hooper said.

“So we’ve just got to see what the Reds did, do it a bit better and put our own Brumbies spin on it, our own Brumbies charm, and hopefully that will do the job.”

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1 Comment
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Greg 514 days ago

Brumbies definitely a chance. The Chiefs are blessed with enormous depth at lock and in the loose, but have a glaring weakness at prop (the Irish tight-head has really struggled) and the Brumbies showed against a good Canes front row that they are up for it, even without their Wallaby tighthead Alaalatoa. Chiefs need one of their own, Tevita Mafileo from the Bay, to stay home next season.

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JW 56 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Again, I'm talking about the leagues, not the national sides.


Players like Leo McFarland, Augustine Pulu, Pita Ahki, Henry Stowers would more commonly have found longer careers locally, being able to better contribute to their national side, I'm meaning. The Crusader team had like Nadolo, Fonotia, and Alaalatoa playing for their country while there, I just don't see that anymore. Really unsure as I say, how that equates to their respective countries fortunes though. Those sides hardly show consistency at International level really, even if I remember them having better potential to back in the day.


This discussion was just about how some sides have slid down while others have climbed remember. Those two leagues I named just have the widest collection basket and need for players, no criticism, but it doesn't mean theyre not sucking them dry (and therefor is a bad thing). France has two divs and Japan has one big div were theres a bigger variance between top Island/highest earning talent being lured away from SR, as well as a need to fill space with the next level down of say NPC talent. This is the sucking part, them, and MLR, hover up all aspects of talent. They can stop the stars from playing and they use lowermost guys who would normally be raising the minimum standards in these teams and make them harder to scout/be rewarded with selection. It could be made into a positive aspect for the PI countries to improve performances of course, but currently I think the talent moving away from the local NZ and Aus scenes etc has been detrimental, I don't know if a stronger NZ talent pool is also to blame for those players no longer holding spots though. So regardless, while it can be said the International field is better, with Scotland and Italy now providing top competition etc, from that previous/same level of team, Samoa, Tonga, and maybe Fiji (at certain times) have gone just as much the other way imo.

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