Brumbies ready for a Stirling test
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:44
Listen up: Captain Mortlock gives the orders
Anyone could have made the mistake of writing off the Brumbies' Super 14 semifinal hopes after their 28-42 home loss to the Chiefs in Canberra in Week Eight.
Canberra's favourite sons were drifting out of contention in ninth position on the log table, and hadn't yet embarked on the dreaded overseas tour.
But three tenacious wins over the Blues, Sharks and Lions have put them right back into the mix, and currently they find themselves only four points away from a top four spot.
The next obstacle in their way is another rather daunting one, in the shape of a Super 14 clash against the in-form Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.
Brumbies skipper Stirling Mortlock revealed his thought on the Stormers to rugby365.com from the team hotel in Cape Town, and made it clear that his Aussie colleagues were in for a dogfight against a crack outfit.
"I think they're a team that's in good form. Mentally they're in good shape because they've been playing very well," said Mortlock, a veteran of 102 Super Rugby matches.
"Their set-piece is excellent, so they generate a lot of quality possession from their scrum and line-out, particularly from their line-out.
"From our point of view, it is very hard to focus specifically on one or two aspects, because they can vary up their game so well.
"We've got a number of things that we're trying to improve in our game, but we certainly know that we're in for a very, very tough task this weekend in front what hopefully will be a massive vocal crowd.
"It's more about making sure defensively we have a really good integrity in what we're doing, and then really focussing on what we can do with the ball in hand on attack, in particular improving from what we did last week against the Lions. We're obviously not very happy with the way we played last week."
Saturday's encounter at Newlands will se many mouthwatering head-to-head match-ups unfold, with the battle of the centres a highlight. Mortlock paid respect to his opposite numbers as he looked ahead to the meeting.
"[Jean de Villiers and Gcobani Bobo] are both quality players," said the Brumbies skipper.
"Jean has been playing very well this season. He's a very enterprising bloke, and takes advantage of opportunities whenever he sees them.
"He's got the ability to offload and his defence is very good. He's very good at sniffing out an intercept, and take his opportunities. He's been doing that extremely well.
"Bobo's a great player as well, and they combine very well together. Tyrone [Smith] and myself are looking forward to the opportunity of marking them and the challenge of hopefully minimising their impact on the game."
Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus has recently said that a packed Newlands always puts ten points on the board for the home team. But the Brumbies seem to enjoy playing there just as much - their record against the Stormers in Super Rugby is fantastic, and they have lost at Newlands only once before, back in 1998.
Mortlock himself has great memories of Newlands, and explained that he has always enjoyed touring in this part of the world, and has a special regard for playing at Western Province and the Stormers home stadium.
"A great thing about touring and coming to Cape Town and playing at Newlands is that it's one of our favourite destinations touring wise. It's a beautiful town.
"Newlands as a venue is outstanding - the atmosphere there is always amazing, and I've been lucky to be involved in some decent performances in the past."
The Wallaby stalwart feels pretty calm about the task ahead of his Brumbies team to reach the semifinals, despite the fact that every match from here on in is virtually a must-win game.
He explained that they simply have to focus on the job at hand, and overcome their hurdles one by one, before trying to look too far ahead.
"There's not too much pressure," he commented. "This is a game we're going into with no illusions that the Stormers are the team to beat. They're at home, they're in excellent form, and we haven't played very well the last few weeks, but we've scrapped away to get victories. We've been in the situation the last three weeks where we've had to win our matches, and we have.
"So nothing's different for us this week, just the fact that we're overseas on tour. It gives us an opportunity as a team to really get together and find out exactly how we'd like to finish this season.
"When you're on tour, it's difficult in some situations. But in other situations it gives us the opportunity to become closer as a team and unify.
"Hopefully we can do that, and if we do we'll give it a crack. Most teams go out there with the emphasis of trying to win, and if the opportunity arises, to shoot for bonus points. Of course you'd go for that.
"Having said that, if you go into a game thinking even subconsciously in the back of your mind that the players want to get a bonus point, it can really detract from playing quality football and ball control in particular.
"I think all teams have a positive mindset to play expansive football. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," said the big centre.
All factors considered, it is quite remarkable that the Brumbies are in semifinal contention at this late stage of the season. They are a team in the middle of a major transition after losing world-class players such as Stephen Larkham and George Gregan to retirement.
The squad have also had the added handicap of having a number of key players out injured for most of the season. In that regard, they have done exceptionally well to find themselves as high up in the points table as they currently are.
Mortlock confirmed that the franchise were indeed experiencing a changing of the guard, but at the same time he felt that it was a natural progression and a simple fact of life. He also paid tribute to the youngsters who had to make a drastic step up to fill some rather big shoes in the team.
"I think there's a huge amount of potential in this current Brumbies side. I guess what's been really positive this year is the number of young guys that have put their hands up this at this level.
"Secondly, the underlying determination and belief amongst the team - that's been really tested this year, and we've won games people wouldn't have expected us to win. [Despite] the amount of possession and things that didn't go our way, we've managed to find a way to win.
"The quality of things we are doing, are a bit down from where we need to be, but having said that, we're a very young team, and hopefully we're at the bottom of our learning curve. And if that's the case, there's a lot of positive things to come in the next couple of years."
Adding to that, Mortlock also spoke about the general trend of players moving to European clubs for large salaries. He felt that the situation was nothing more than a challenge - something that the Super Rugby franchises had to manage.
"All sporting teams go through generational change, and succession planning, and I guess, cycles. Probably what you're seeing certainly in Australia, is that there is a huge amount of young players going through the ranks.
"That's not necessarily exacerbated by a few people going overseas, in particular to the UK. That happens on all sports, and it's how you deal with that generational change, and how effective you are at remaining successful, that really determines how good a football club you're involved with.
"The northern hemisphere have gone from a situation where it initially seemed like their set-up was not conducive to getting really quality rugby.
Now, they're a powerhouse, and we've got to look at how we're doing things, and probably catch up with them," revealed Mortlock.
The 30-year-old has had a remarkable career with the Brumbies and the Wallabies, and is looking forward to extending that with new Wallaby coach Robbie Deans, who will quit the Crusaders after the end of the Super 14 season to focus wholly on Australian rugby.
Mortlock said that he was thrilled about the prospect of working with a coaching legend such as Deans, who has won multiple Super Rugby titles with the Christchurch outfit.
"It think everyone in Australian rugby is pretty excited about the prospects, and looking forward to a month or two's time. There's a lot of young talent coming through the ranks in Super 14 football, and likewise Robbie's gonna be our first foreign coach.
"The amount of class he brings to the team, well, you only have to look at how well the Crusaders have done over the last five or six years. So everyone is extremely excited about that.
"Having said that, we still got three weeks to go in the Super 14 with a task in front of us. If we go about that well, and play well, hopefully it gives me the opportunity to be part of the Wallabies season after that."
The question arose whether Saturday would be the final hurrah for Mortlock at Newlands. But the jovial Aussie obviously has plenty of antipodean rugby left in his veins.
"Who knows? I'm signed on until 2010, so with that being the case, probably not. But never say never hey!" he quipped.
Sound advice for anyone who wrote the Brumbies off back in Round Eight.
By Phil Coetzer
