Brumbies veteran Sam Carter has identified a disappointing 22-point loss to the Reds in March – and being called in to review it on a week off – as the turning point in the ACT team’s season.
The Brumbies take on Queensland at home on Saturday in their last game and will be looking to keep up their momentum with a sixth straight win, ahead of a finals game in Canberra a week later.
Avenging a defeat at the hands of the Reds in round six won’t be part of the chat, said Carter, but the Wallabies big man admitted that loss ultimately helped launch the subsequently sizzling run home for Brumbies.
The Brumbies had a bye week off after their trip to Queensland but after losing the game at Suncorp Stadium 36-14, coach Dan McKellar called the team in first thing on Monday to immediately address the defeat.
It was a “tough review”, according to Carter.
“Everyone in the squad was disappointed so we wanted to sit down, put that to bed and have a week off,” Carter said.
“The game after that was the Crusaders and we went down to Christchurch and played some exciting footy over there. They’re a good team but that kind of set us up for that run: the Lions at home, and then our trip. That kind of was our turning point.
“But we have to keep the ball rolling this week and not get too complacent.”
Click Here: cheap INTERNATIONAL jersey
The Brumbies led the Crusaders at halftime and lost, but since then have won seven of their last eight games.
The Brumbies probably can’t improve their position on the ladder – unless the Sunwolves beat the Jaguares in Argentina – but there is much to play in the last round; not least continuing their powerful form and momentum into week one of the finals.
Coming into finals after a morale-sapping loss is far from ideal, and the Brumbies have done it plenty. Of their five finals appearances between 2013-2017, the Brums lost their last regular season game three times.
“Historically – although not last year – we have always faded,” Carter said.
“But this year feels a bit different, we have had a few good wins. But nothing is going to change next week. The Reds are a tough team. We know that, we have to turn up and play some good footy.”
Coach Dan McKellar ushered in a change of philosophy at the Brumbies last year, encouraging his team to play more fearlessly in attack and add more weapons to their already strong defence, maul and set-pieces.
After some early season wobbles, that has come good this year.
Using the potency of their maul to beat the Blues in caused a minor ripple but in effect, all the criticism did was give another week or two of cover for the Brumbies and their all-round game.
Carter rates the 2019 Brumbies game as the most ‘balanced’ he’s played in nine seasons at the club.
“We are playing good balanced footy, there’s good balance between the forwards and the backs, and it’s backed up by food defence,” he said.
“We have got good variation as well. There are games when we need to win it with the maul and front-up, and there are games when our backs have the silky skills. As long we have good balance, it will be a good finals series.”
Carter is leaving the Brumbies at the end of the season but says he won’t be thinking about personal farewells.
“I am not going to get too emotional about it. If you get too emotional, you forget about what you’re actually doing.
The way we see it hopefully we have three more games, four more games,” Carter said.
“I will leave the emotion until the end I guess, there’s no time for any of that.”