Brumbies face anxious wait over Western Force clash following COVID-19 lockdown in Perth
With little more than two weeks until the beginning of the new Super Rugby AU campaign, the timing of Perth’s five-day COVID-19 lockdown couldn’t have been much worse.
Granted the strict lockdown didn’t come during the season, but it has jeopardised Saturday’s pre-season clash between the Brumbies and Western Force.
The two sides are scheduled to do battle in a trial match at Viking Park in Canberra this weekend, but whether that match goes ahead at all remains to be seen, especially if the Force aren’t able to leave the Western Australian capital this week.
Should the match be cancelled, it will be a source of frustration for James Tucker, the injury-plagued New Zealand lock who has joined the Brumbies this season as he looks to overcome his injury woes.
Having not played for over a year due to an ACL injury that curtailed his Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup campaigns for the Blues and Waikato last year, Tucker was eager to take to the field this week prior to Perth’s sudden lockdown announcement.
“Obviously this is pretty niggly that this has come up today, five days out from the game – especially after last year as well where everything was up in the air the whole time,” he said on Monday.
“But, we can only prepare how we can and hopefully the game goes through.”
That was a rhetoric reiterated by prop James Slipper, who was one of many Wallabies to return to the Brumbies set-up recently as the squad continue to prepare for their Super Rugby AU title defence over the coming weeks.
“Fingers crossed it goes to plan. A fair bit of water has to go under the bridge, but for us, we’ve just been concentrating on making sure we can play some good rugby this week and that most of the boys get a run. That’s probably most important,” Slipper said.
As part of the Brumbies and Wallabies sides that endured a season of uncertainty in 2020, Slipper ensured he and his teammates were well-equipped to deal with changes in scheduling at short notice, regardless of how testing those changes might be.
“I wouldn’t say it fazes the group. Last year was a good test of character and we just had to adapt and it wasn’t just in rugby, it was in all sports across Australia and across the world.
“[It’s] nothing that we’re new to this year, so I’m sure it won’t be the last thing that happens this year either. We’ve just got to make sure we’re ready to go.”
Controversial cross-code star Israel Folau is on the verge of an NRL comeback.https://t.co/VspEMYNiKi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2021
Should the match go ahead, it wouldn’t surprise to see the Brumbies roll out a squad with a blend of experience and youth, especially what Slipper had to say about pre-season training thus far.
“It’s been physical. A lot of the young blokes have been really impressing and asserting themselves on the old blokes, which is always going to happen, but in terms of the upcoming season, the boys are really excited about it,” he said.
“We obviously won it last year and then we got the Trans-Tasman this year as well, so there’s a lot to be excited about for a rugby fan, and for us, we’re chomping at the bit to start the season.”
On the flip side of that, Tucker – five years Slipper’s junior – noted the impetus the returning Wallabies contingent have brought to the squad upon their arrival at Brumbies headquarters.
“It’s good to learn from them and take what they’ve learned in their camps and what they bring back to us,” Tucker said.
“It’s good to get the knowledge from them, really, and that intensity they bring to training is something that we needed, especially coming off nine weeks of pre-season. We’re all a bit tired and they just up the level, which is good for us.”
Irrespective if this weekend’s match goes ahead, the Brumbies and Force are still planned to face each other in their respective season-openers at HBF Park in Perth on February 19.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments