Brumbies 2012

[mudskipper]

Commiserations to the Brumbies after yesterday. Very happy from a Reds point of view, but I would have loved to see both teams through.

Despite the disappointment of missing out congrats on a fantastic season considering the turn around from last year. The emergence of some significant talent in the likes of Hooper, Tomane, Mogg, White, Carter, Fardy etc and the form of the likes of Moore & Mowen can only be good for Australian rugby. Clearly there has been a cultural shift under White's coaching and you would think the players will only get better as they play together (excluding Hooper, of course).

Special mention to Mudskipper - I'll admit I thought some of your predictions at the start of the year were nuts (from memory even Slim did). But what do I know - you were certainly a lot closer to the mark than I thought.

The Brumbies advantage was they were an unknown challenger and a small the advantage of not drawing the Crusaders or the Stormers in the rounds... They also had a massive off season and were one of the fittest squads in 2013. What I also really liked about their chances was at the start of the season was they had a lot of home games early giving them time to settle as a squad, I think it the success then that triggered their belief in each other and their coach. And the local media then got behind. Teams will see them coming next year, it will be tough but on the other hand their confidence will be high...

Hooper, Tomane, Mogg, White, Carter, and Fardy, all grew massively this season... but there were a few others with less game time who really stood up such as the likes of Murphy, Kuridrani, Power and Auelua who all showed some genuine Super rugby promise.

Brumbies will get a full season out of Auelua in 2013. He could be massive.

Speight was the best Australian winger and really showed he could be a Wallaby and I believe he is eligible next season. Tomane wow, I think he was better than Digby in his first season he could be huge for Australian rugby.

I see Jake White has headed to republic to find a hardworking Lock... It will be interesting to see what he can unearth...

Oh and watch Colby Fainga'a grow working alongside Pocock next season.

Jakes also letting a lot of fringe players go so it will be interesting to see who they sign as development players in 2013 and what talent they can unearth in OZ… I suspect after a hot season they’ll be plenty of lads looking to Canberra to grow their pro rugby careers.