If it ain't broke, don’t fix it.
That’s the favourite mantra of the Brumbies when it comes to their rolling maul, and none sing it louder than hooker Folau Faingaa.
Faingaa sits atop the Super Rugby try scorers list with six tries from five rounds, and his double against the Waratahs at the weekend was the first time since Andrew Walker in 2003 that a Brumby had scored tries in five consecutive games.
The other Folau? Faingaa’s Wallabies teammate Izzy is stuck back on a miserly two tries.
A prolific, try-scoring member of the front row would be a funny curiosity at most clubs but at the Brumbies it is a laser-pointer stat, pointing directly to their most effective weapon: the rolling maul.
All bar one of Faingaa’s tries have come on the end of a powerful train of bodies, set up off a lineout near their opposition’s line.
It was a go-to staple for years at the Brumbies; so much so that previous ‘tailgunners’ Stephen Moore and David Pocock both spent seasons as the Brumbies’ top try scorers.
The Brumbies went away from the rolling maul a little in 2018 as they tried to expand their attacking game but even as they continue to try to grow, coach Dan McKellar has urged his team to not get bored with what works - the rolling maul.
Brumbies winger Henry Speight would be entitled to be a bit jealous of Faingaa’s tally but even the flying Fijian couldn’t care less
"He is probably five ahead of me and other backs,” Speight said.
"The last time that happened was when I first got here and Benny A (Alexander) was taking all the credit for the team’s tries.
“(Faingaa) is really benefiting from the strong work they are doing as a forward unit, and if it is good and it is not broken, let’s stick at it.”
Brumbies prop Scott Sio said Faingaa wasn’t letting his moment in the spotlight pass by unremarked, but he was selling himself a bit short on the scale.
"I live with him, so he reminds me that he's the top try scorer in the Australian conference every day,” Sio said.
"He's playing some great rugby, he understands what his role is in the team and he's executing at the moment.
"I think we've harped on, just making sure we get around our core roles and our knowledge in the team and he's reaping the benefits of it at the moment and I'm really happy for him and we're just going to continue to support him.
"If our maul keeps going well, he could be top try scorer in all of Super Rugby so hopefully fingers crossed we can continue that form this week."
The Brumbies juggled tight mauling with expansive play in their smash-up of the Chiefs in round two and funnily enough, believes Speight, it was their attempt to play more than highlighted the value of the maul.
"We will have games that don’t go our way. For most of the games this season, seeing how we played against the Chiefs, teams have been coming out trying to nullify our attacking game,” he said.
"We just have to find other ways to grind and win, and if it takes what we have to do what we did on the weekend, just working hard and getting into the right areas of the field and coming away with points, whether it’s three, five or seven."
The Brumbies take on the Reds in Brisbane on Sunday and the men from Canberra know it will be a typical inter-state arm wrestle, and possibly more.
"They are (tight games) and they are quite niggly as well,” Speight said.
"For us it is trying to stay composed and just stick to what we want to get through and not get caught up in the niggle and the emotion of things, because it becomes a slug fest after that."
