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How the Brumbies are preparing to shock the NZ Super Rugby sides

(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

It’s no secret that Australia’s Super Rugby franchises have struggled to foot it with their Kiwi counterparts in recent years, but the Brumbies are looking to change that in 2022.

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The Canberra-based outfit is hoping the dawn of Super Rugby Pacific will bring with it a change in fortunes this year after they fell to four losses from five matches against New Zealand opposition in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman last year.

They were one of only two teams, alongside the Reds, to register victories over Kiwi sides last year, with Australian teams enduring a dismal cross-border campaign that saw them win a collective total of two matches from 25 fixtures.

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That poor return came after Australian clubs suffered an eye-popping winless run of 40 matches against New Zealand teams between 2016 and 2018.

Since that streak was broken, the Australians have still only sustained a win rate of just under 22 percent against Kiwi franchises, and that gulf in class was emphasised when Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU merged together in 2021.

Brumbies boss Dan McKellar is understandably eager for that to change, though. If his side are to stand any chance of challenging for the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific title, regular wins over New Zealand teams is non-negotiable.

How McKellar plans for those victories to come has been reflected in his revamped pre-season training programme, which he says has been altered with the aim of becoming “more powerful” in order to take down “the best teams in the competition”.

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“It’s very different. Our approach to training is pre-seasons are always very tough here and it’s no different this year,” McKellar told reporters on Tuesday.

“Probably more focused this year on speed, agility, power, quality over quantity. Last year was a real conditioning focus, and I’m not saying that was right or wrong, but we’ve had a shift in how we train this year.

“The players have certainly appreciated that and we just feel that, as a team, we probably need to be a little but more powerful, especially against the best teams in the competition.”

McKellar’s quest to buck the trend of Kiwi dominance in Super Rugby – which won’t begin until round nine due to the Covid-enforced draw revision – has been aided by the fact that he has strong squad depth at his disposal.

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In addition to the 14 Brumbies players who represented Australia last year, McKellar has also lured two former Wallabies, Jesse Mogg and Chris Feauaia-Sautia, to Canberra for this season.

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That’s not including one-test midfielder Irae Simone or locks Cadeyrn Neville and Nick Frost, both of whom have been involved as non-playing members of the Wallabies squad over the past two years.

Former Waratahs and Australian Sevens speedster Cam Clark and All Blacks Sevens representative Ollie Sapsford have also come onboard, as has Manu Samoa playmaker Rodney Iona, giving McKellar plenty of options come selection time.

“I think a number of the new players that have fit in, that have come from other programmes or they’re getting their first opportunity, they’ve been really impressive,” McKellar said.

“We were just talking about it the other day as a coaching group. There’s genuine competition for spots across the board, which is what we need.”

With an overhauled training scheduled and a new personnel on deck, a sense of excitement is brewing in the Australian capital as the Brumbies continue to work towards their season-opener against the Western Force in Perth on February 19.

However, while spirits remain high within McKellar’s squad, the outgoing head coach maintained there is still plenty of work to be done if the Brumbies are to achieve their goal of toppling the best Super Rugby Pacific has to offer this year.

“We’re still working hard. It’s not like we’re fluffy by any means, but there is a different approach around quality and high-intensity and a real skill-based programme,” he said.

“I think there’s always a buzz at this time of the year. We’ve finally got the majority of the group back together again and everyone just enjoys being at the Brumbies and being around each other, so that’s pretty natural.

“But, I think the change in our approach to how we train has been really well-received.”

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Andrew 1028 days ago

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Flankly 49 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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Nickers 58 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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