Wallabies legend backs Brumbies to break horror Aussie play-off stat

Winner of two Super Rugby titles, Joe Roff feels the Brumbies have got their preparations right this season after falling short in recent years.

The ACT franchise face the table-topping Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday afternoon with the winner advancing to the Super Rugby Pacific grand final.

Roff was part of the title-winning Brumbies sides in 2000 and 2004, which was the club’s last trophy, but the Wallabies legend says former teammate and coach Stephen Larkham has the team primed to perform.

The Brumbies have made the last four semi-finals but haven’t been able to make the decider.

“Speaking with Steve … he has unfinished business here,” Roff told AAP.

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“He knows now, in the cycle of his coaching evolution, that the Melbourne Cup is not won in February.

“He’s coached his team to be primed at the right time of the season and so this weekend, I’m expecting and looking forward to a big performance.”

No Australian team has won a Super play-off in New Zealand with a 0-20 record, but Roff said that statistic shouldn’t bother the Brumbies.

They snapped a 12-year hoodoo in Auckland against the Blues this season while they’ve also beaten the Chiefs in Hamilton, back in 2022.

“I see with the Brumbies a sense of self belief,” Roff said.

“It was only two years ago where, as an Australian public, we were saying we don’t know how to beat New Zealand Super Rugby sides and that is not the case anymore, not by any, any stretch.

“The belief that the Brumbies have going over to play against a wounded Chiefs team, who will come out very hard, is there.”

Speaking from Hamilton, Brumbies lock Nick Frost said such records were there to be broken and asked “why not us”.

“Obviously a lot of it is a bit upstairs, a bit mental,” Frost said.

“It’s we haven’t won here for a while or we don’t do that well’, but it’s why not, why can’t we be the first to break a record, why can’t we be the first team to do that?

FrostRecords are meant to be broken, says Nick Frost, ahead of their clash against the Chiefs in NZ. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
“In 2013, the Brumbies were the first Australian team to win a play-off match in South Africa … so the record in New Zealand is going to be broken one day so why can’t it be us?”

Frost said the team wanted to start well and believed they had the ability to close out a tight game if that was how it unfolded.

“We’ve worked at our game through the year to be able to really close out games and we obviously fell short against the Crusaders, but we still have that big belief we can come home with a wet sail,” the Wallabies forward said.

“Probably the big thing is starting well, we didn’t do that against the Crusaders and you let a quality side get out to a big lead it’s hard to claw back, so we want to start strong and start hard.”

The Chiefs have lost the last two grand finals and were upset by the Blues in the qualifying final, but have All Blacks Luke Jacobson and Quinn Tupaea back in the line-up.

The Brumbies, who overcame the Hurricanes in their week-one final, are unchanged.