Brumbies return energised by South African trip

 
Ben Hand Roar Rookie

By , 5 Mar 2010 Ben Hand is a Roar Rookie

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Brumbies Mark Gerrard flies throgh the air after scoring. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Brumbies Mark Gerrard flies throgh the air after scoring. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

After a grueling three week tour of Perth and South Africa, the CA Brumbies are excited to return home tonight against the Lions of South Africa. Starting the season with three away games was never going to be an easy start, so to come away with two wins from three starts puts us in a good position as the season unfolds.

We are aware that we are playing nowhere near our potential.

However, I believe we are going to click into gear over the course of the next couple of games, hopefully starting tonight. Our playing structure and patterns continue to evolve, as new combinations start to gel, particularly with our inside backs.

What many don’t realise is that we have had quite an unsettled start to the season, with our chief playmaker, Matt Giteau, missing the majority of the pre season with a quad strain.

Gits trained once with us prior to the round two Bulls match, then due to a short turn around and travelling from Pretoria to Cape Town, we had only one main training session prior to our Stormers match.

Hopefully now we have a run of a few home games in succession, we can continue to spend more time together as a unit on the training field as opposed to in airports, honing our attack.

This is what excites me, personally, knowing that we have so much improvement as a playing group, and we are looking to continue to develop over the next few weeks.

To have travelled to Perth and Africa early in the competition was a positive for the Brumbies, as it enabled the group to spend quality time together and I feel a real bond has emerged amongst the group.

We are very fortunate as rugby players to see many parts of the world and travelling Africa is a really great rugby experience.

The locals over there are so patriotic and passionate about the game and I suppose that’s why it is so hard to win over there. There is much to see and do during “down time” between training and games, particularly in a place as beautiful as Cape Town, with some of the boys hitting the golf course and some of the bigger dare-devils amongst the group diving with great white sharks.

My favourite part of South Africa, like any other tight five forward, would have to be the food – quality steaks, ribs and seafood are part of a staple nightly feed when touring the Republic for the forwards.

So now our attention focuses towards the Lions, who are a potent attacking team and like to play with width and an up-pace tempo.

Tomorrow night’s match will also mark Gits’s return to Canberra, as well as Rocky Elsom’s first match in front of the Brumbies’ faithful.

It’s been a big week, also, for me personally, having just inked a new two year contact at the Brumbies, which I am very happy about.

I believe we have a very special squad down here and it’s a great place to play rugby and continue to develop as a player.

Hope to see as many people as possible at Canberra Stadium tonight to cheer us on after being on the road.

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