Brumbies hooker Folau Fainga’a has scored a hat-trick against the Blues to take his season tally to 10 tries, two clear of next best in Super Rugby.
Brumbies hooker Folau Fainga’a has Wallabies legend Joe Roff in his sights after becoming this Super Rugby season’s leading try-scorer.
Fainga’a scored a hat-trick – all from rolling mauls – in the Brumbies 26-21 win against the Blues on Saturday and now has 10 tries this season.
The 23-year-old has five games to better Roff’s Australian record of 15 tries in a season, while Hurricanes winger Ben Lam has the Super Rugby record (16).
Faingaa was quick to shift the credit to the rest of his pack and joked he was more worried about copping it from teammates than breaking records.
“If I don’t score those tries the boys are into me during the week,” Fainga’a said.
“It’s pleasing (to score) but all the boys up the front do all the hard work and make it easy for me.
“It’s just part of my job, we don’t do the fancy stuff out wide the backs do, you’ve got to love doing the (tough) stuff and you don’t get bored of it.
“Guys like (Roff) are really respected players and if I break it, I break it.”
Brumbies coach Dan McKellar couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when told Fainga’a is now on top of the competition’s try-scorers list.
“It’s brilliant, the wingers would be filthy,” McKellar said.
“It’s good to see, and Folau would be the first to thank the others up front. But he’s got an important role and a lot of responsibility on the back of the maul, you need to make a lot of decisions that people probably wouldn’t be aware of and he does it well.
“It’s not a fluke, we practice it a lot and the detail around it and we’re good at it. You’ve got to love doing it because if you’ve got one link in the chain it won’t work. And the boys enjoy doing it.”
© AAP
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