Mortlock confident of an upset
Brumbies skipper Stirling Mortlock believes a month of inconsistent rugby by the Blues will present his side with a genuine chance of scoring an upset victory when the two teams go head-to-head on Saturday.
Brumbies skipper Stirling Mortlock believes a month of inconsistent rugby by the Blues will present his side with a genuine chance of scoring an upset victory when the two teams go head-to-head on Saturday.
The Brumbies travel to Auckland – a city they haven't won in since 2001 – for the Super 14 Round Nine clash confident they can return with a win to get their season back on track.
The Blues are third on the Super 14 standings, but have lost two of their past four games.
The Waratahs outplayed them on their way to a 37-16 victory last weekend while the Western Force defeated them by 10 points a month ago.
In between, Auckland scored narrow victories at their home ground against the struggling Bulls and Stormers.
Mortlock said the Brumbies learned a lot about how to potentially dethrone the Blues by watching their loss to the Waratahs on Saturday.
“With the 'Tahs, it wasn't so much specific moves, more the fundamentals they displayed in the win,” Mortlock told the Canberra Times.
“We're going over there under no illusions how tough it will be, but having said that, the past couple of weeks they haven't played as well as what they're capable of.
“There's an opportunity there but we've got to show a lot of intent, bring physicality and ball control is a key as well.
“Defensively, the Waratahs really worked well as a unit, trusted each other and had the physicality there, particularly at the breakdown.”
Brumbies' coach Laurie Fisher agreed with Mortlock, saying the Blues' chequered form gave his side added hope of leaving New Zealand with at least four competition points.
Fisher believed the Waratahs' performance at the Sydney Football Stadium provided he and his assistants with enough clues on how to approach the Blues this weekend.
“They just played with a good level of physicality, presented numbers in the line, went forward, made their tackles, went hard at Nick Evans, retained possession well and the Blues were ill-disciplined and gave away a lot of penalties in the first half,” the coach said of the Waratahs' performance.
“You can't use it as a blueprint, but if we can front up and play like we know we can play, put the pressure on them, control our possession, we can win the game.”