'There's a target on our back': Brumbies star eyes Super Rugby Trans-Tasman title over Kiwi counterparts
Super Rugby Trans-Tasman is still four months away, but Brumbies star Rob Valetini is already eyeing a title challenge when Australia’s five Super Rugby sides go head-to-head with their New Zealand opposites.
It makes sense given the Brumbies stand as reigning Super Rugby AU champions after clinching the inaugural crown last year, a title Valetini and the Canberra-based franchise are eager to retain.
Now with two trophies up for grabs in 2021, the loose forward wants to push for winners’ medals in both Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman this year.
He knows it’s a feat that won’t come easy, though, given the Brumbies’ champion status in Australia and the quality of opposition across the ditch.
“Heading into this season, I think there’s going to be a target on our back having won last year,” Valetini told reporters from Brumbies headquarters earlier this week.
“But, yeah definitely, we want to win the season again and hopefully take that over to [the] Trans-Tasman [competition].
“Keen to [play] those NZ teams seeing as their comp was up there [in terms of quality], so I think [we want] to prove that we’re the best in Australia and then that we’re the best in Australia and New Zealand.”
Before the Australians do battle with the Kiwis, Valetini maintained that keeping hold of the Super Rugby AU trophy remains the Brumbies’ top priority with only three-and-a-half weeks until that tournament starts.
How the 22-year-old performs in either competition may go some way to determining how the Brumbies fare this year, especially after Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie left him with some advice following his sophomore year in test rugby.
After making his test debut in a World Cup warm-up clash against Samoa in 2019, Valetini came off the bench for Australia three times last year to bring his total test cap tally to four.
Still very inexperienced at the highest level of the game, the youngster’s exposure to the Wallabies set-up could yet prove vital to his development.
Without that time in the Australian national camp, he may never have been told by Rennie what he needs to improve ahead of this season.
The chances of any kit clashes in this year's edition of Super Rugby have been eliminated after the unveiling of a new set of away jerseys for the New Zealand franchises.https://t.co/bMfzejcqYj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 26, 2021
“I had a bit of feedback from Dave Rennie, just on areas that I can work on with work rate and fitness, so just trying to work on those areas and try take my game to another level.”
Those improvements could make Valetini an integral member of the Brumbies squad as he enters his fourth season with the franchise.
Originally from Melbourne, Valetini was a schoolboy star, as he became just the second Australian forward to sign a Super Rugby deal while still in school, and made his NRC debut for the Melbourne Rising while still at Westall Secondary College.
However, his decision to throw his lot in with the Brumbies has proven to be a good one given the relationship he has with his teammates.
“Canberra, I call my home now. It feels like that as well, with the boys and the culture that we have here,” Valetini said.
“We’ve got a lot of young boys here, so I just try lead with my actions. I’m not really good with my words with the boys, so I just try lead with my actions on the field or on the training paddock.”
Among those “young boys” include new loose forward recruits Rory Scott and Luke Reimer.
The 2018 Australian Schools duo were two of five players promoted to the senior squad from the Brumbies academy and will compete with the likes of Valetini for places in the back row this year.
Valetini said he has already felt the energy provided by the pair at pre-season training, with Scott earning the nickname ‘Poey’ due to his resemblance to Brumbies and Wallabies legend David Pocock.
“They’re fit and fast. Rory gives it his all. His nickname is Poey for a reason. Runs like him, he’s built like him, he just goes crazy.”
Valetini, Scott and Reimer could all make their first outings of the year when the Brumbies open their Super Rugby AU season against the Western Force at HBF Park in Perth on February 19.
The Crusaders will be without their second-string hooker for the entire Super Rugby season.https://t.co/D262lKcHb1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 26, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments