Brumbies keen to smash big brother as Waratah Week looms

Back in the glory days, Brumbies supporters everywhere would scan the Super 12 fixture and circle one game before all others: the Waratahs in Canberra.

“Tah Week” was always a favourite time on the rugby calendar. A combination of the superstar Brumbies, the “this is the year” optimism of the Waratahs, and the ease of travel between the cities meant that a big crowd and a great atmosphere was assured.

Whether it was that the Brumbies had a history of finding diamonds among the rejected Waratah rocks, or the stereotypical big brother/little brother thing, it was and remains a good old-fashioned healthy rivalry.

And the fans love it. I don’t know when I first heard the reworked classic, that “the only thing better than beating the ‘Tahs by 1, is beating the ‘Tahs by 8″ but it’s always been a firm favourite. It’s just a shame it hasn’t had much use since the glory days.

Now it’s true, I don’t often allow myself to get parochial in my articles, though it’s often a little harder to subdue in comments. However, something about tomorrow night’s clash is building that extra level of anticipation.

The prospect of the star-studded – albeit re-building – Waratahs shaping up against a Brumbies side on the rise makes this arguably the most even clash between the sides in recent years.

On paper at least, it shapes as a cracking match, probably the pick of the Australian derbies in 2013 so far.

It’s not just the fans though. It’s a special time for the team, too.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to speak to a few current and former players, and all of them were united in explaining that there’s no other week that lifts the Brumbies more.

“It’s always a big week in Canberra, ‘Tah week”, Wallaby prop Ben Alexander told me.

“From the origins of the Brumbies, with all the misfits of New South Wales rugby and we like to pride ourselves on beating our ‘big brother’ up in Sydney.”

Alexander admits to some extra motivation, with the Eastwood junior always keen to beat the team that largely ignored him. “Yeah, there is a bit. I was never given much of a run up there, and came down to Canberra and the Brumbies gave me a chance in their academy. And the rest is history.”

Brumbies Captain Ben Mowen is in the unique situation of having experienced this build-up from both sides of the fence, and he admits that he didn’t quite realise how much the Brumbies built themselves up for it until joining the club last season.

“It’s exactly like Queensland-New South Wales rivalry, and I was probably a bit naive to that, coming from the other side,” Mowen explains.

“In the Waratahs camp, we always treated it as a very important game, but there’s treating it as an important game and there’s that extra passion that really kicks in down here.”

“I rocked up to the gym on the Monday last year, and written across the board was ‘TAH WEEK’ and that was the phrase that was thrown around all week. The intensity just goes up, and I know the guys are just so excited about it already,” Mowen says.

Former winger and Brumbies great, Joe Roff, fresh from joking about a recall on the back of returns by Clyde Rathbone and now George Smith, tells it like it really is, though.

“People would ask whether it was more special than other weeks, and you’re supposed to say it’s not, but it always was,” Roff told me in the build-up.

“Because of where the ACT sits, within the boundaries of New South Wales, it was always a big brother-little brother sort of week, and for some reason we always used to get up for it. It’s a special match for us as a team… and it’s a Bledisloe-type of grudge match that is just that little bit more special than other games, and I’m really excited about this one coming up.”

The match itself brings two very different breakdown styles to the contest. Where the Brumbies have been dominant in terms of getting numbers to the breakdown, and with Ben Mowen and Peter Kimlin offering great support to David Pocock, the Waratahs look to be building toward a wider offload-based game with Dave Dennis and Cliffy Palu.

It’s often meant that ex-Brumby Michael Hooper has looked like a lone hand at the breakdown, and with his low-pilfer game, the perception is that he’s had a quiet start to the season. It might not necessarily be the case, and he’ll be keen to show his former club that he’s still as dangerous at the ruck when wearing sky blue.

How Dennis goes in Palu’s No. 8 role, and how George Smith will go in his first Super Rugby hit-out in nearly three years, will be all that much more interesting again.

The form of excitement machine Ben Volavola has forced Coach Michael Cheika to start him, pushing Israel Folau to the wing and Tom Kingston out of the 22.

Big Sitaleki Timani is back, with another ex-Brumby, Mitch Chapman, moving to blindside.

The Brumbies have brought Henry Speight back onto the wing, forcing Joe Tomane to the bench, and the return of Smith sees Colby Fainga’a missing out.

The broader Centenary of Canberra celebrations, which kick off in earnest this weekend, give the match even more presence on what will be a pretty big year of sport in the Nation’s Capital.

The Brumbies will be sporting a special one-off Centenary jersey for the clash, with the 22 match-day jerseys to be signed and auctioned off, with all proceeds going to ACT Community Rugby.

Brumbies fans, the coach requests your presence at Canberra Stadium. He’s upped his gold-clad crowd expectations now to 24,000 and won’t accept any long-weekend-I’m-heading-to-the-coast excuses.

Sydneysiders, you’re similarly requested to join the convoy down the Hume.

It should be a cracker. Brumbies by 1. No, make that 8…