The Brumbies may have marched to a 7-1 record and top spot in Super Rugby Pacific yet the season really only starts now with the Kiwis on the horizon.
The men from Canberra handled the dangerous Fijian Drua 33-12 at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night in a contest that was always far closer than the blow-out it falsely hinted at on the scoreboard.
So what did we learn about the Brumbies and the Drua and their readiness for what comes next?
1 THE BRUMBIES ARE REALISTS
Skipper Nic White isn’t reading too much into the team’s 7-1 start until the Brumbies can be measured against New Zealand opposition.
The Brumbies have a bye next weekend, after eight games in a row, before playing the Highlanders in Melbourne on April 24 during Super Round.
“The competition kind of starts now. If you told me at the start of the season we’d be 7-1, I’d have taken it for sure but it’s just a foot in the door. “It’s given us an opportunity, that’s all. The Kiwis are the measuring stick and we are keen to throw some punches and see how we go.
“Actually, I hope all the Australian sides do well (in Super Round) and it gives Australian rugby something to celebrate.”
2 ROB VALETINI
The Wallaby backrower just keeps performing. His eight runs for 18m, by one stats count, totally undersold his contribution to this game.
He ran hard and constantly demanded two and three defenders stop him. He added 15 tackles.
“Rob not only played well, he’s becoming really durable,” Brumbies coach Dan McKellar enthused.
“It’s not rocks or diamonds anymore. He’s pretty consistently good now.”
3 GUTSY DRUA
The Fijians have finished their block of games against the Aussies sides. They managed a 1-7 record and it gets harder from here.
The Fijians were forced to evacuate from their training base at Lennox Head this week because of the floods yet they still found a way to dig deep.
At 19-0 down, this scoreline could have got ugly but winger OnisiRatave scored the first of his two tries at the end of a slick long-range team effort.
This Drua team fights all the way and tries to keep playing fast rugby even when other sides are trying to prevent quick taps and slow them down.
“I’m just massively proud of the attitude to keep playing the game. We’ve got errors in us but we get up and go again. You’ll never see heads down or players feeling sorry for themselves,” Drua coach Mick Byrne said.
4 150 FOR SLIPPER
Rugby Australia President David Codey was on-field post-match to present Brumbies prop James Slipper with a trophy recognising his milestone of 150 Super Rugby games.
“’Slips’ is hugely respected and his rugby has gone to another level in Canberra (since he joined up in 2019 from Queensland),” Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said.
Slipper played a solid 51 minutes with nine tackles, a couple of runs, his strong scrummaging and general input to the win.
5 NOAH ON THE WAY BACK
Rod Iona has done his job as a stand-in flyhalf. Young gun Noah Lolesio will be back from injury to face the Highlanders in the Brumbies’ next game.
Iona threw some neat passes and was willing with his clean out work. He does tend to take his first few steps across field, at times, and when that happens the Brumbies attack crabs sideways.
