LONG READ Wallaby hopeful Ryan Lonergan: 'I try to take a relaxed approach because it can all flip pretty quick'

Whatever the ACT Brumbies achieve in 2026, and however deep they go into the finals series after a disappointing slip to sixth place on the weekend, the form of scrum-half Ryan Lonergan will remain a high point of their season.

Officially, Lonergan was ranked third behind Western Force fly-half Ben Donaldson and outright leader, Chiefs centre Quinn Tupaea, when the Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year voting went dark after Round 10.

But it’s entirely plausible Lonergan will have improved his position when the award is finally presented. He’s played in every game this season, starting all but one, and regularly been adjudged among the Brumbies best and named in various Australian teams of the week of late where Donaldson and Tupaea have missed games.

Whether he’s done enough to bridge the gap to Tupaea for the overall lead will be revealed soon enough, but either way, there’s not a lot of argument that Lonergan has had his best season.

He’s passed the 100-game milestone for the Brumbies, and until Allan Ala’alatoa’s return to the role last Saturday, Lonergan captained the side through the season. He’s set high standards for himself and the team throughout and that, along with the implications for the finals series, is why ACT’s incredibly disappointing performance in their shock loss to Moana Pasifika in Canberra stings.

“Moana obviously had a lot to play for,” Lonergan told me post-match. “We knew it was coming, but we probably got caught not being fully ready for that. They won the physical battle well and truly in that first half. We tied it up a little bit in the second half, but I think they wanted it more than us.

“Now we’ve hurt ourselves for a position in the finals. Maybe six days (turnaround) isn’t the worst thing after that. We’ll have a good couple of days here and then get over there nice and early and get ready for what’s going to be a big game for us.”

That ‘big game’ is easily the hardest of any of the finals qualifiers: facing minor premiers the Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday.  The table-toppers may be fresh off a heavy loss to the Crusaders but they rested all their big names for that one and no-one has got within eight points of them on their home patch this season. The Brumbies lost 45-12 to the Canes – in Christchurch – in late April.

I think it is a mental thing for us, but it’s not an excuse… It’s do or die now, so we’re going to be ready for it.

The Hurricanes scored 86 tries in the regular season, 11 more than the next-best Chiefs and 42 more than the Canes conceded themselves. They scored 45 points or more in eight of their 14 games, with an average scoreline of 40-21. They are the reddest of red-hot favourites to add a second Super Rugby trophy to the mantelpiece.

Last Saturday’s  21-19 loss, in what was almost certainly Moana’s final act in Super Rugby Pacific, is probably indicative of the Brumbies season. They won plenty of games they weren’t expected to, including four against the five New Zealand sides, but lost to both the Reds and Waratahs at home, as well as the Fijian Drua and Moana.

Lonergan was quick to concede the Moana defeat was just the most recent in a season full of frustrations. “It has been (frustrating). We’ve got a reasonably young group, maybe a group that hasn’t played a full season, you know what I mean?

“I think the mental load of that is what’s not spoken about a whole lot, but it does take its toll. I think it is a mental thing for us, but it’s not an excuse. We’ve got to find a way to be able to get what we need out of the week and then know that it’s our job to show up on the game day.”

All teams have flat spots in the middle of a season, but the Brumbies’ flat spot this year was much longer than in previous years, including a month either side of their mid-year bye where they won just two of eight games. What was looking like a possible top-two finish after an excellent start suddenly became a battle to regain form just to reach the finals.

“That part of the year is when you see the players like Tom Hooper, Lenny Ikitau, Noah (Lolesio) just keep going,” Lonergan said, acknowledging the loss of three key personnel from last season. “I don’t think we’ll see that issue this weekend (in Wellington), which is going to be the positive thing.

“It’s do or die now, so we’re going to be ready for it, but you definitely want to be known as the team that is good every weekend, regardless of who you’re playing. It’s definitely a work-on for this group, being able to perform no matter who we go up against.”

After more squad inclusions than he cares to remember, Lonergan finally made his Test debut for the Wallabies in last year’s Bledisloe Cup matches, notching up five appearances off the bench by season’s end. His form this year has many a pundit ready to give him a first start for the Nations Championship clash with Ireland in Sydney next month, but wherever his name lands on the Wallabies selection table, there’s little doubt his game has gone to new levels because of that international experience.

“There was plenty of time for him up in Wallaby camp last year and there’s probably some good coaching up there that he’s latched onto and brought it back,” noted Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham of his No.9.

“He’s a very good player in terms of identifying what he needs to work on. He’s found something, out the back of that Wallaby season last year, that little bit extra that is honing his skills and sharpening his mind.”

And the Brumbies are the big winners of that so far. Lonergan’s vision and ability to rip a pin-point pass to hit a target has seen the team find numerous tries this season that they just weren’t scoring last year.

Last week against the Waratahs, it was a flat pass across James Slipper’s face that allowed Billy Pollard to crash over in space. On Saturday against Moana, it was two wide passes to Tom Wright – the first off his left hand to send Wright over himself, the second the opposite way to put Wright in the space to send Luke Reimer over in the corner. There have been countless other examples through the season.

You never know, there’s another coach change coming in and who knows what’s going to happen. I’ll just take every moment in there.

“I think the deception from my pass has given us a bit of pay this year,” Lonergan says. “You throw a little bit of change up in there and then it’s just something different for teams to defend.

“It’s just kind of the approach I’ve taken. We haven’t really said we’re going to do this and we’re going to do this. I think if we can continue just to have options around our playmakers and we trust those guys to make the right decision, then I think that pass deception can bring plenty of reward.”

If Lonergan feels like his game is in a better place this season, he has also rediscovered a love of goal-kicking mid-year that is very clear in his numbers.

Up to the Brumbies’ Round 8 bye, Lonergan had kicked 20/30 off the tee, and the Brumbies as a team were among the least accurate in the competition. Since then, he’s landed 18/20 to push his own record to 76% for the season and lift the Brumbies into the top five teams for kicking accuracy. With questions remaining about Carter Gordon’s kicking ability – he’s only just resumed goal-kicking in the last fortnight – this improvement couldn’t be more timely for Lonergan’s Wallabies chances.

“If I get to go in there, I’ll just try to make the most of it. You never know, there’s another coach change coming in and who knows what’s going to happen. I’ll just take every moment in there,” he said.

“I’ll just treat it like it’s really special to me, because it is. I’ll try to make the most out of it. But you never know, it’s just such a funny sport like that. It’s a funny job because it’s so high and so low. I do try to take a pretty relaxed approach to it because it can all flip on its head pretty quick.”

Larkham thinks Lonergan’s leadership is an important part of his game now, and for any team he’s playing in.

“Now he’s had a taste of it, he knows what’s required at that next level. He’s always been a really good leader within the (Brumbies) group. He drives standards really well, speaks really well and applies himself really well.

“I think the only thing I can see different this season is that he knows what it takes now and he’s just pushing himself a little bit extra at training.”

I think the team can do special things, particularly with the country behind them. It’s a massive two years coming up, it’s really exciting.

Future Australia captaincy is perhaps a way off yet, but the way he’s led the Brumbies this year with no inhibitions means you couldn’t rule it out. He did captain the 2018 Junior Wallabies, which included more than a few of the current senior cohort.

For now, Lonergan is playing very good rugby, with an excellent understanding of his own game and how to make the most of it. That augurs well for a big few years ahead, with another Rugby World Cup on the horizon.

“It would be unbelievable to be part of, particularly at home and particularly with the group we’ve got,” he added. “There’s some unbelievable talent coming through.

“If we can gel all that together and create a really sound foundation to our game, I think the team can do special things, particularly with the country behind them. It’s a massive two years coming up, it’s really exciting.”