Brumbies wary of buying into the hype after statement wins

The ACT Brumbies aren’t getting carried away by their red-hot start to the Super Rugby season with stand-in captain Ryan Lonergan determined to keep the momentum by remaining grounded.

The Brumbies have been one of the surprise packages after the opening two rounds, scoring a whopping 106 points and beating reigning premiers Crusaders 50-24 last Sunday to propel them to first on the ladder.

Their success has come despite the injuries to fullback Tom Wright (knee) and captain Allan Alaalatoa (back), and on the back of a plethora of Wallabies departing in the offseason.

Lonergan has had to step up into the captaincy role for the absent Alaalatoa, but he says nothing has really changed for him.

The Brumbies aim to continue their blistering start when they meet the Auckland Blues in Canberra on Saturday night.

“I’d say (the key is) to not get complacent with what we’re doing. We’ve obviously started pretty well, but how we’re playing at the moment is probably not going to win us a championship,” Lonergan said.

“We’ve got to continue to sort of build our game and keep getting better.

“You can’t really read into the results.”

History isn’t on the side of the Canberrans in their past matchups against the Blues, having won just twice in their last seven encounters.

And making matters worse, Auckland won’t have to travel across the ditch after beating the Western Force 42-32 in Perth last Saturday.

They have been training out of the NSW Blues headquarters in Sydney with a largely similar roster from the side that made the semi-finals last year.

Lonergan says they will have to find a new gear.

“They’re a very powerful team. They have dominant set pieces and they’ve got some class in their back three,” he said.

“There’s a lot of power all around. So we’re going to have to be ready for another physical one and mentally get up for that.”

The Brumbies go into the clash unchanged with coach Stephen Larkham opting to rest Wallaby Nick Frost again.

For the Blues, Joshua Fusitu’a has been ruled out with an elbow injury with Ofa Tu’ungafasi moving to loosehead prop. Kurt Eklund comes into the team and will start at hooker.

Lock Sam Darry will return after picking up a head knock against the Chiefs in round one, but All Black Patrick Tuipulotu remains sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Captain Dalton Papali’i will celebrate his 100th appearance for the club, having debuted for the Blues in 2017.