Brumbies on Red alert

The ACT Brumbies will be wary of an in-form Queensland Reds when they host the Australian Provincial Championship (APC) final at Viking Park on Friday night.

After a slow start to the competition, the Reds bounced back from their 32-6 loss to the Force to overcome NSW 39-17 and edge out the Brumbies in a nail-biter, 20-19, last weekend. The Brumbies remain unbeaten at Viking Park after accounting for the Waratahs, 14-13, and downing the Force, 25-10.

Brumbies No.8 Stephen Hoiles says his side is expecting a similar game plan to the one the Reds produced on Saturday.

“We’ve seen the Reds a couple of times now and we know they’re going to play a physical and confrontational style of football,” he said. “They out-enthused us on the weekend and we weren’t aggressive enough on the field. But that’s an attitude thing and it’s something we can turn around. If we can beat them in those two aspects, I think we’ll go a long way to winning the game.”

The Brumbies have made a number of forced changes from the one that narrowly went down to Queensland on Saturday.

Hoiles’ Randwick team mate Matt Carraro is unavailable due to a stress fracture in his foot. His wing position will be taken by Tim Wright with Tim Curran named at fullback. Julian Huxley will again assume the flyhalf role while Mark Gerrard, who missed last weekend’s match with a calf strain, will start off the bench subject to a fitness test prior to the match. Gerrard has been bracketed on the bench with the ‘young brigade’ of Christian Lealiifano, Jason Lagaali and John Williams.

In the only change to the forwards, lock Liam Shaw has been replaced in the starting line-up by Marty Wilson while Scott Flint has recovered from a back injury and will take up his position on the bench.

Hoiles will again oppose Reds skipper John Roe in a match-up that could determine his immediate Wallaby future.

“He’s the captain and dominant leader for the Reds,” Hoiles said. “He’s very experienced and he’s played a fair few Tests for Australia. But I enjoy competing against these players. Hopefully the Wallaby selectors will be here and I can have a good game and play myself into [Wallaby Spring] Tour calculations.”

“I’ve been happy with my own form without being ecstatic. My main focus has been fitting into the Brumbies way of doing things. To be honest, while I’d love to play for the Wallabies again, I’m more excited about next year and playing with the whole Brumbies’ squad.”

APC Rugby - Final

ACT Brumbies vs Queensland Reds
Viking Park, Canberra
Friday Night, September 29
Kick-Off: 7:00pm (local/AEST time)

Tickets to the APC final are available from Brumbies HQ (Canberra Centre, Civic) and the Vikings Auditorium Ticketing Office (Erindale Vikings Club, Ricardo St, Wanniassa).