Brumbies' duo quarantined

Brumbies backs Stirling Mortlock and Adam Ashley-Cooper have been kept off-limits from team-mates as a gastric and diarrhoea virus threatens to leave the entire squad bed-ridden.

Brumbies backs Stirling Mortlock and Adam Ashley-Cooper have been kept off-limits from team-mates as a gastric and diarrhoea virus threatens to leave the entire squad bed-ridden.

The pair have spent the past 36 hours vomiting and suffering diarrhoea.

Brumbies medical staff quarantined the duo into separate rooms and ordered them to have no contact with team-mates for at least another 24 hours in a bid to prevent the virus spreading.

Their illness comes a day after prop Ben Alexander was a late withdrawal from Saturday's Super 14 game against the Cape Town Stormers at Newlands.

Alexander suffered the same type of illness as Mortlock and Ashley-Cooper.

The 23-year-old ate at a pizza at an Italian restaurant in Cape Town the night before the Stormers game with some of his team-mates.

Neither Mortlock or Ashley-Cooper ate at the same restaurant, leaving Brumbies doctor Warren McDonald unconvinced it was a bout of food poisoning.

Alexander began feeling ill at 1am the morning of the Stormers game and “spent the next 30 hours on the dunny every hour on the hour doing fairly unpleasant things”.

Alexander lost between three and four kilograms due to the illness. He trained on Monday in what was his first form of exercise since falling ill.

Mortlock and Ashley-Cooper were bed-ridden as the team had its first full training session since their 10-20 loss over the weekend.

McDonald insisted they stay away from team-mates and ordered no exercise for at least another 24 hours.

“They're settling slowly, they're resting today and we'll monitor them again tomorrow (Wednesday),” McDonald told the Canberra Times.

“They're still unwell but we remain hopeful they will pick up in the near future and that nobody else will go down with something similar.”

The loss of the duo would be a major blow to the Brumbies as they try to finish the season in style, starting against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

Coach Laurie Fisher accepted the illnesses had come at a frustrating time, but hoped they wouldn't have any major bearing on team selection.

“Fingers crossed it's just a 24-48 hour thing, nobody else gets it and we'll all be fine a bit later in the week, but who knows what will happen in the next day or two,” he said.