Western Force captain David Pocock is warily eyeing the Brumbies’ imposing back-row for their Super Rugby clash on Friday night, saying the ACT franchise has already earned a reputation for their physicality.
Brumbies coach Jake White has fielded a big back-row for the opening round clash at Canberra Stadium, with skipper Ben Mowen starting at No.8 and Peter Kimlin and Tongan-born Ita Vaea at the side of the scrum.
The trio have both a height and weight advantage over the Force’s own stellar line-up of Pocock, Matt Hodgson and Ben McCalman, and the Wallabies flanker admitted they would prove to be a big test for the Force.
“In the last few years there’s been so much focus on the breakdown and that’s definitely going to continue this year,” Pocock said on Thursday.
“Ita Vaea from what I’ve seen has done a fair bit of work at the breakdown and in the off-season he’s trimmed down a little bit and he’s looking really good, so it’s going to be a huge challenge.”
A physical presence is important to White, who’s said that height in particular let the Brumbies down last year.
“We’ve suddenly got a nice tall line-out and that means we can pressure opposition teams,” he said.
Pocock agreed with White that the Brumbies start the season as unknown entities, but said they’d done enough in the pre-season – which included a 25-0 trial drubbing over the Force earlier this month – to put other teams on guard.
The new-look Brumbies, who farewelled 13 starting players from last year, start as the bookies’ favourite to take first points.
“It’s always hard to know from trials how much teams and how much they’re showing, but from what we’ve seen they’re very physical and they’ve got good kicking options in their backline,” Pocock said.
“We are expecting them to play for position and really use that to accumulate points.”
In a battle of the untried and the untested, the Brumbies have named six debutants in their 22-man squad, while the Force are set to blood four new players: Fijian winger Napolioni Nalaga, prop Salesi Ma’afu, second-rower Toby Lynn and outside centre Winston Stanley.
Pocock said the Brumbies shouldn’t be dismissed as a youthful team, saying a lot of players had been in the system for a while.
“So it’s a dangerous thing when you’ve got guys who have that confidence in themselves and want to prove themselves on the stage that is Super XV,” said Pocock.
“And any team coached by Jake White is going to come out firing, that’s a non-negotiable.”
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