The first-minute score that helped the Brumbies dispatch the Sharks in Canberra appears to have come at a cost, with two-try hero Pete Samu ruled out of the semi-final against the Jaguares.
Samu came from the field during the Brumbies’ 38-13 win with a hamstring injury and after medical assessment, he was not taken away with the team on their trip to Argentina on Sunday morning.
The tight turnaround and travel demands were deemed too much for Samu to be a genuine chance of playing.
Blake Enever joined the touring party as a replacement.
The loss of Samu is a blow for the Brumbies given his recent form, and experience as a two-time Super Rugby winner with the Crusaders in the past two seasons.
The Brumbies do have good depth in the back row, however, with Locky McCaffrey and Jahrome Brown on the bench for the quarter-final.
Speaking after the game, but prior to his diagnosis, Samu revealed he’d had an hammy niggle throughout the week, which no doubt was put under strain when he had to sprint 35 metres to score inside the first minute on a cold night.
Samu was seen stretching throughout the first half, and though he scored again from a rolling maul, he later left the field after an apparent ping of the hamstring.
"It’s been tight throughout the week and it just tightened up that last bit of the first half. I didn’t want to risk it,” Samu said.
Prior to learning of Samu’s diagnosis, Dan McKellar said post-game he hoped the no.8 would be able to play given his outstanding form.
"You just feel for Pete, he has been playing really well and he has played such a big role in getting us here to where we are,” McKellar said.
"I know we have pretty good depth in the back row and someone will step up and do a job, but players want to be playing at this time of year, and he deserves to be.”
Coupled with Samu’s form has been his composure, created by a couple of premiership seasons with the Crusaders.
Both have contributed majorly to the Brumbies rattling up seven wins on the trot.
The Jaguares are the only other team with similar momentum, having won six games in a row.
Samu knows a thing or two about momentum, having only lost three games across the 2017 and 2018 seasons with the Crusaders.
He said he believes the Brumbies have a nice sense of confidence and belief building, as exemplified by the ball-playing of forwards near the line that created his first try, and Henry Speight’s five-pointer soon after.
"It’s lovely to see the boys backing themselves out there on the field and it’s happening on the training field as well,” Samu said.
"The boys back themselves and I was just lucky to be on the end of a nice ball.
“We don’t want to get overconfident but the boys definitely take some confidence out of the past seven weeks. That game is done now and we have to look to next week, but we will take learnings and move on.
"We had a loss to them earlier in the season and they’re definitely a quality side. The last thing we can do is focus on them.
"We just have to focus on ourselves and what we can control and hopefully heading over there, we just give it our all and hopefully get the result."
SQUAD
Forwards
Scott Sio
Allan Alaalatoa
Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin
James Slipper
Angus Wagner
Folau Fainga’a
Connal McInerney
Rory Arnold
Sam Carter
Darcy Swain
Blake Enever
Murray Douglas
Tom Cusack
Rob Valetini
Jahrome Brown
Lachlan McCaffrey
Backs
Joe Powell
Matt Lucas
Christian Lealiifano
Toni Pulu
Tom Wright
Henry Speight
Andy Muirhead
Tevita Kuridrani
Irae Simone
Tom Banks
Mack Hansen
