Brumbies have earned belief for Super semi: Larkham

Perth Now

a day ago

Consistency is the buzz word for the ACT Brumbies with coach Stephen Larkham saying both stable selection and form have his team primed for their Super Rugby Pacific semi-final clash with the Chiefs.
The Brumbies have been able to retain the same match-day 23 from their qualifying win over the Hurricanes as they attempt to become the first Australian side to win a Super knock-out match in New Zealand.
The ACT outfit have now made the semis the last four seasons, since the competition added the Pacific element, but haven't been able to make the final to bid for their first title since 2004.
"I believe it's the first time (to have the same 23) this year," Larkham said ahead of his team's flight to Auckland for the match in Hamilton on Saturday.
"The selection is based on performance but the boys are peaking at the right time and I thought they played really well on the weekend.
"We certainly want continuity going into the finals and it's nice to have it at this stage of the season."
Finishing third on the ladder, the Brumbies dropped five games through the season but all of those losses, bar their round-three loss to the Chiefs, were by six points or less.
In that away loss an undermanned Brumbies side matched the Chiefs' six-try haul but without regular No.10 Noah Lolesio were let down by wayward goal-kicking, falling 49-34.
Larkham said their consistency through the season meant the players could approach the do-or-die match with confidence, rather than draw on emotion, which had affected past finals performances.
"We'll try not to get too emotional about the game - maybe last year and the year before, sort of that build-up to the game was a little bit too emotional so we'll make sure that we keep that in check this week," said the former Test flyhalf.
"The boys can just get a lot of confidence out of the way that we're playing.
"One, there's a lot of stats that show that we're actually playing very good footy and then two, just the consistency that we've had throughout the season."
He said that after their third straight semi-final exit he had adjusted their pre-season and also mid-week training to ensure they were finals-ready.
"We've tweaked a few things that has hopefully put us in a really good position to be more consistent through the finals now."
The Crusaders will host the defending champion Blues in the other semi-final on Friday night, with the latter upsetting the Chiefs in a qualifying final to reach the last four.
Larkham was impressed with the Auckland side's ferocity at the breakdown and line-speed in defence which put the Chiefs on the back foot.
But he backed the Brumbies' own game plan to get the job done.
With four of their five tries in their 35-28 win over the Hurricanes scored by the front-row, the rolling maul is expected to again be a big weapon.
"It's not something that we're going to copy, we're not copying the Blues," Larkham said.
"We've got a plan this week in terms of some of the stuff that we've been building on through the year and then some specific stuff for the Chiefs."