Brumbies 2009

[RugbyReg]

good signing, puts pressure on Holmes and Phibbs.

Former Western Force Super 14 player James Stannard has joined the battle for the Brumbies' halfback jersey.

The ACT franchise announced on Friday it had signed the 25-year-old on a one-year deal.

Stannard played 10 matches for the Force, making his debut this Super 14 season.

He faces stiff competition for a starting Brumbies jersey from Josh Holmes and Pat Phibbs.

Originally from Queensland, he said he was looking forward to returning to the east coast.

"I'm really looking forward to getting down there, getting stuck into the training and proving myself before the start of the Super 14 season," he said.

"The Brumbies have a history of developing players and playing a very free running style of play which are two things that appeal to me."

Head coach Andy Friend said Stannard's continual improvement augured well for his time at the Brumbies.

"James has proven himself at Super 14 level and shown what a tough and competitive half he is.

"He's stepped up with each opportunity he's been given from club level and the ARC through to Super 14 and we're keen to see him continue to develop as part of the CA Brumbies."

 

[Spook]

Brumbies have edge for Giteau
By Bret Harris
October 27, 2008 THE Brumbies, with the help of a third-party sponsorship, are set to outbid the Western Force for the services of Australia five-eighth Matt Giteau.

Giteau left Canberra two years ago to join the Force in a deal that made him the highest paid player in Australia. But part of the package was a third-party sponsorship with failed fuel technology company Firepower, which did not pay him all he was owed.

The Super 14 teams are not permitted to solicit third-party agreements, but the players' managers are allowed to strike separate sponsorship deals.

Giteau's management is in discussions with companies in Perth to replace the Firepower sponsorship, but there is speculation he is attracting as much, if not more, corporate support for a return to Canberra.

"I don't think his manager will have any difficulty sourcing corporate support for Matt Giteau regardless of what jersey he is wearing," Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said.

"Matt is one of the best rugby players in the country and one of the highest profile sportsmen in Australia. All I know is after 15 years in the sports management industry, if a player presents value he will find support."

8) Any big coporations recently move to Canberra or is there a wealthy backer?

 

[Lee Grant]

I still don't know why Jerry Yanuyanutawa didn't play for Oz A this year and neither did any of the Uni fans I asked at Uni Oval when the Rats were playing there in the TNC.

Jerry has played for the Fiji U21 team and the Fiji coach Illie Tabua was having a look at him last year; so it was good that the ARU showed some interest in him this year - but why didn't he play?

Also I don't know whether he has committed to Oz as part of his signing up with the Brumbies Academy - or even if he has to at this stage. And, because he is just in the Academy, I doubt if the Brumbies had to put him in the category of ?developing? foreign player who has yet to represent his native country at Test, Sevens or A-team level.

Note that the ARU switch on the foreign player policy came before Jerry was signed up by the Brumbies.

I don't know Jerry's background - he was born in Fiji but whether he is a recent arrival or came over at a young age like Lote I don't know. I think he would be a recent arrival as I don't remember him at schoolboy level and I think I would have if he was young enough to go to school here.

If he came here recently we shouldn't be too fussed about Fiji getting him. However if he was a THP instead of a LHP I wouldn't be so noble in my comments.

 

[Spook]

Rathbone stil has pace. He clocked the fastest 40m time in training this week. Quicker than Holmes and Mafi who were the quickest in NSW from memory. Now if he can develop a step, pass and kick :thumb

 

[Pfitzy]

He's off to the bobsled team, haven't you heard?

http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/news/downhill-for-rathbone/2008/11/05/1225560909459.html

Perfect for him, should be be in the rear two: only requires strength, never has to sidestep, just gets to run straight at stuff.

 

[Spook]

Bad news for Yabby. He is a brave and solid player and this injury sounds bloody risky to be honest. :'(

Wait for doctors' verdict a pain in the neck for Fairbanks
BY PETER FITZGERALD

13/11/2008 1:00:00 AM
Gene Fairbanks is desperately hoping his rugby career isn't over, but not even he can be sure just yet.
The 26-year-old is still recovering from surgery resulting from a crushed nerve in his neck he initially sustained in the ACT Brumbies' round one Super14 loss to the Canterbury Crusaders in February last year.

It has been a long and frustrating journey for Fairbanks since.

Nine weeks after believing his neck injury had mended, a final precautionary scan revealed an existing crack in a vertebra, which ruled him out for the remainder of the Super14 season.

Fairbanks made his return to rugby with Randwick in the Sydney club competition in August but reinjured his neck in his second game.

Constant pain forced him to undergo surgery in September.

He has not played any form of the game since.

He has been restricted to non-contact work during the first fortnight of the Brumbies pre-season training and won't know until he next sees a surgeon in three weeks when, or if, he can play again.

''Given those scans are all clear, then I'd hope to be able to start contact training when we come back for training in the new year,'' Fairbanks said.

''I thought about it earlier in the year and I honestly considered giving the game away but then I figured I've been consulting with surgeons and experts in the spinal unit and taking advice off them and basing my decisions on what they've been telling me and recommending.

''The neck, it's not really a part of the body you can afford to take too many risks with and if it got to the stage where more scans suggested I should give things away, well I might have to, but there's been no problems or worries or real pain since the surgery so I'm hopeful it will be fine.''

Should Fairbanks get the all-clear from medical staff next month he'll up the ante in his bid to reclaim the Brumbies No12 jersey for the 2009 season.

Tyrone Smith filled in for Fairbanks at inside centre for the majority of last season and excelled, winning the ARU Super14 rookie of the year award.

Fairbanks applauded Smith's stunning debut season in his preferred role but hoped his experience would hold him in good stead in new coach Andy Friend's eyes.

''Twelve is the jumper I want, 100per cent,'' Fairbanks said.

''I made it my own for a year or two and then had to give it up last year with the injury obviously, but it's where I'd like to play again.''

Smith, however, has no intention of surrendering the jersey.

''Gene had been there a while before me but who knows what the coaches will do,'' Smith said.

''I've spoken to Andy and he just said there's a lot of competition there and that he's going to start fresh and that the players who are training and playing the best will get selected.''

Fairbanks simply hopes that the coaches have a decision to make.

 

[Henners]

Brumbies have edge for Giteau
By Bret Harris
October 27, 2008 THE Brumbies, with the help of a third-party sponsorship, are set to outbid the Western Force for the services of Australia five-eighth Matt Giteau.

Giteau left Canberra two years ago to join the Force in a deal that made him the highest paid player in Australia. But part of the package was a third-party sponsorship with failed fuel technology company Firepower, which did not pay him all he was owed.

The Super 14 teams are not permitted to solicit third-party agreements, but the players' managers are allowed to strike separate sponsorship deals.

Giteau's management is in discussions with companies in Perth to replace the Firepower sponsorship, but there is speculation he is attracting as much, if not more, corporate support for a return to Canberra.

"I don't think his manager will have any difficulty sourcing corporate support for Matt Giteau regardless of what jersey he is wearing," Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said.

"Matt is one of the best rugby players in the country and one of the highest profile sportsmen in Australia. All I know is after 15 years in the sports management industry, if a player presents value he will find support."

8) Any big coporations recently move to Canberra or is there a wealthy backer?

Its George snow and a few Property developers by all accounts.

 

[Lee Grant]

Fairbanks had tough luck; so let's all hope that he can come good.

Talking of the Brumbies: they are hot for Kotoni Ale, the star backrower for Oz Schools this year.

The Brumbies Academy coach Darren Coleman said, "Kotoni's been on our radar for a while. He's got a lot of potential. I knew George Smith as a schoolboy and there's many similarities with Kotoni; he's very skillful and he works hard for the team. He's got all the right character traits. What he becomes is totally up to him. Hopefully we can entice him to come here."

But Chris Hickey from the Tahs is interested in the NSW Schools Player of the Year too and reckoned he was well in the race to get Ale's signature.

"We're hopeful that being a Sydney boy, he sees the Waratahs as a good option," said Hickey. "He looks very much like a top player of the future. From the meetings we've had he's an impressive young man on and off the field and I think he would fit perfectly into our system."

As I said before he is an impressive player at the schools level and seems to have all the ticker he is going to need as a senior, though one can never be sure. He played in all 3 backrow positions in 2 years for NSW Schools. It will be difficult to know what his best position is going to be as a senior player without knowing how much he is going to grow.

Hickey is cocky about getting him but I'm not so sure. Ale would see Waugh and Beau Robinson ahead of him at the Tahs and Ben Coridas, who he resembles in a lot of ways, has just accepted a second year as a professional Academy player.

At the Brumbies he would have to wait for Smith to hang up his boots and even when he's still around, Hoiles will be there plus Salvi, who I thought had his best season ever this year.

As for the Force: it's a long way to go to wait behind Pocock and Brown, and he may not be tall enough to be a lineout 6.

I reckon the Reds should get his phone number.

He could take a longer view and hang around the Sydney club comp for a bit of seasoning for a year or two, getting the NSW Academy content whilst staying at home and eating Mum's cooking. The Oz rugby landscape will change a bit in that time and it could be best to make a career decision later. And despite the hype, he may not be good as Coleman, Hickey and yours truly think he will be as a senior player.

He goes to school at Augies just down the road from where I live; so I hope he does the right thing and signs up for the Rats, and if he hasn't got a car yet there's a bus stop just opposite Rat Park.

I'd even give him a lift.

 

[fatprop]

I can see Waugh disappearing soon, next year I expect him to lose his Wallaby spot to Pocock.

If the kid is any good Robinson & Coridas won't be an issue

 

[spectator]

there has been a bit said about future 10's on a few threads but I think it's appropriate to this thread to remind people of Matt To'omua. James O'Connor, Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale are special talents, but this kid is the real deal in terms of 5/8th's. I hope he has some good game time with the Brumbies in 2009.

 

[Lee Grant]

As you know speckie, you don't have to convince me about young Matt.

He got a few runs for the Brumbies from the bench this year after leaving school in 2007 and did the right thing by playing in the Sydney club comp after the S14. He had some good games for Eastern Suburbs too and scarcely a below average one.

He is not a ball player of the calibre of Beale and Cooper at the same age though is no dud in that regard; but he is a better tactical player than the other two were. He is progressing well, though he has to run a bit more and get a bit more oomph into his line kicks.

He is a better player than Lealiifano was at the same age and I'd warrant that he will get more and more time with the Brumbies as the 2009 S14 season progresses. IMO he will eventually be the starting Brumbies flyhalf but I can't estimate when that will be.

 

[RugbyReg]

The CA Brumbies have named a 16-man squad to play the Australian Sevens side at Griffith Oval on Friday (21 November). Kick off is at 3pm.

Four of the CA Brumbies? six new recruits for the 2009 Investec Super 14 have been named in the squad, including Ben Hand, James Stannard, Sitaleki Timani and former Australian Sevens captain, Shawn Mackay. Current Australian Sevens squad member Peter Betham has also been selected in the CA Brumbies side.

Clyde Rathbone, who has recovered from a long-term knee injury, will pull on a CA Brumbies jersey for the first time since Week Nine of the 2007 Investec Super 14 and has been joined in the squad by fellow ACT flyer Francis Fainifo.

Flanker Julian Salvi, who has topped recent CA Brumbies? pre-season fitness testing, has been included in the forwards for the CA Brumbies while the squad has two chief playmakers in flyhalf Matt To'omua and 2008 Investec Super 14 Rookie of the Year, Tyrone Smith.

The squad also features five members of the Brumbies Academy, including centres Leo Afeaki and Pat McCabe, hookers Nathan Charles and Anthony Hegarty, and back-rowers Ed Gower and Henry Vanderglas.

CA Brumbies Head Coach Andy Friend concedes there are many differences in the abridged version of the game but says many benefits can be taken from Friday?s match.

?As a player you are a lot more exposed in a game of Sevens and everything you do on the field is magnified,? he said. ?We need to match up defensively and this is a great opportunity for these guys to use the extra space and show what they can do.

?Friday?s trial will have little bearing on our selection for the Super 14 season but it will give these guys a chance to blow out the cobwebs, get some football under their belts and get some match fitness.

?It?s also a great opportunity for our members and supporters to see these guys in full flight and playing some entertaining football.?

The CA Brumbies and Australian Sevens will play two matches each of two seven-minute halves.

Meanwhile, the Brumbies Academy has also named their squad to play the Australian Sevens squad tonight at Griffith Oval.

Former Australian Sevens squad members Tim Cornforth and Junior Sovala will add some experience to the squad while Ed Stubbs, who was initially included in the Australian Sevens extended squad, has shown he has some promise in the seven-a-side game.

The 2008 Australian Schoolboys quartet of Robbie Coleman, James Ambrosini, Tyler Stevens and Colby Fainga'a, who will each receive their first taste of senior football, have been selected in the squad, as has Royals back-rower and 2008 Macdougall Medal winner Sokai Tai.

Frank Iglewski (Uni-Norths), Tyrone Thomas (Bermagui-Cobargo), Ben Tyler (Wests), Dan Yakopo (Queanbeyan) will give the Brumbies Academy side some express pace out wide while Afeaki, McCabe and Vanderglas have also been selected after training with the CA Brumbies squad through the Investec Super 14 pre-season.

The Academy match will kick off at 6pm.


Brumbies Academy Squad v Australian Sevens
6pm, Wednesday, 19 November, 2008
Griffith Oval
Leo Afeaki, Robbie Coleman, Tim Cornforth, Colby Fainga'a, Frank Iglewski, Pat McCabe, Junior Sovala, Tyler Stevens, Ed Stubbs, Sokai Tai, Tyrone Thomas, Ben Tyler, Henry Vanderglas, Dan Yakopo

CA Brumbies Squad v Australian Sevens
3pm, Friday, 21 November, 2008
Griffith Oval
Leo Afeaki, Peter Betham, Nathan Charles, Francis Fainifo, Ed Gower, Ben Hand, Anthony Hegarty, Shawn Mackay, Pat McCabe, Clyde Rathbone, Julian Salvi, Tyrone Smith, James Stannard, Sitaleki Timani, Matt To'omua, Henry Vanderglas

One interesting name, for me, in that Academy side is Junior Sovala. Australia U20 winger and Sunnybank star winger. A bit of a wild child so hopefully the Brumbies can control him. Wouldn't surprise me that he plays for the Brums next year.

 

[Spook]

Is he quick Nod?

 

[RugbyReg]

Yep

 

[Lee Grant]

Hmm - I notice that the ACT have done another Queensland poach - flyhalf James Ambrosini who made Oz A Schools this year and went to St. Laurence's College. He knows how to slice through a gap and can kick a long ball too.

Robbie Coleman is a local lad and also a flyhalf. He made the Oz Schools ones but was probably swapped with Ambrosini on tour, as is the custom. Robbie finished the Oz Schools Open tournament well and although he's not an outstanding schoolboy prospect he has an all round game for senior rugby that some other schoolboy flyhalves don't.

Watch out for fullback Tyler Stephens when he comes through the ranks. The pocket rocket can shift and knows what broken field running is all about. Mick O'Connor knows him from the Schools tournament and would have him pencilled in for the future for Sevens.

*******************

It was interesting to read Bill Young's comments about the Brumbies scrum. He is their scrum doctor now and he said that statistically the Brumbies had the worst scrum of the S14. I thought that they didn't have a very good scrum but had no stats to back it up.

I used to go to a site 2 years ago that had stats like that for the S14 but somehow lost track of it when I reinstalled my hard drive. Does anybody know of the site?

Anyway - if the Brumbies had a bad scrum you can see why Shepherdson and Henderson have been ignored by Deans and it makes one wonder all the more why Alexander didn't get a start in the S14.

Bill's comments are here:

http://www.super14.com/news/viewarticle.asp?id=16799


PS It's good to see Rattlebones back. I saw him a bit for Easts this year. He hardly set the house on fire but he was coming back to work OK - I even saw him pass the ball a few times. He didn't seem to be as fast as he was before but that could be an illusion.

Rattles is one of those players like Elsom, Cooper, Beale and Tuqiri that posters are a bit too hard on IMO; so I'll be watching him for reasons to give him a bit of praise just to be perverse.

 

[Scotty]

Too hard on Tuqiri? Not hard enough methinks.

To be fair though, we aren't actually hard enough on the ARU and coaching set up that a) over paid him and put up with all his off field dramas b) kept picking him week in week out despite pretty average form.

 

[Spook]

The lineout and scrum for the Brumbies was terrible this year. Has a prop ever regressed as fast as Sheperdson? I blame Gandalf. They had a good game against NSW scrum-wise. Mind you, that was Kepu and Dunning from memory. :nta:

 

[Pfitzy]

I haven't bothered reading most of this, but I did see the following on rugbyheaven:

http://news.rugbyheaven.com.au/sport/montpellier-sign-aussie-lock-campbell-20081130-6nhp.html

Montpellier sign Aussie lock Campbell

November 30, 2008 - 5:45AM

Australian lock Alistair Campbell will join French Top 14 side Montpellier on January 1, the club has revealed.

The 28-year-old Brumbies player has three international caps to his name and has featured in 10 Super 14 matches over the past year.

Montpellier have brought Campbell into their fold to cover the forthcoming absences of Georgian Mamuka Gorgodze and Portugal's Goncalo Uva, who have been called up by their respective countries for the Six Nations B tournament.

I didn't realise T14 was so short of large players with no ticker :nta:

 

[Spook]

I'm surprised he didn't follow Gandalf. : Obviously Andy Friend thought he wasn't worth keeping.

 

[Cutter]

I posted this on TSF re starting lineups for next year so thought I would copy it over here. * means Wallaby. Brumbies will have an all Wallaby front row.

Brumbies

15. Gerrard*
14. Rattlebones*
13. Mortlock*
12. Tyrone Smith
11. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) *
10. Lealifano/Toumua
9. Holmes/Phibbs/Stannard
8. Hoiles*/Salvi
7. George Smith*
6. Chapman
5. Chisolm*
4. Kimlin
3. Shephardson*
2. Stephen Moore*
1. Ben Alexander*

16. Huia Edmonds/John Ulugia
17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa/Nick Henderson/Salesi Maafu
18. Sitaleki Timani/Ben Hand
19. Hoiles*/Salvi
20. Holmes/Phibbs/Stannard
21. Lealifano/Toumua
22. Alfi Mafi

Should have a decent starting XV again, but depth might be a problem. There will be some interesting talent developing in this years' S14.