Talking balls with Stirling Mortlock

On Friday, we can expect fireworks between the Stormers and Brumbies and one player who is ready to light the fuse is Stirling Mortlock.

On Friday, we can expect fireworks between the Stormers and Brumbies in Cape Town and one player who is ready to light the fuse is star centre and Australian marvel Stirling Mortlock.

Following their disappointing 50-32 defeat at the hands of the Bulls last weekend, the Brumbies won't want to leave South African shores empty-handed. But an equally tough prospect awaits the two-time Super Rugby champs at Newlands in the form of the unbeaten Stormers.

The Brumbies will have it all to do against a team brimming with confidence after their best start to a Super Rugby season for four years, however the men from Down Under have other ideas as we found out on the eve of Friday's crucial clash.

Mortlock is a modern great of rugby in Australia and has been a proven match-winner for the Brumbies and Wallabies over the past decade.

The 32-year old has been a stalwart of the Brumbies' line-up since making his debut in 1998 and his spectacular disregard for self preservation and combative style of rugby has provided supporters with some of their most memorable moments over his 12-year Super Rugby career.

Wherever he goes, people want to speak with him and suck up as much knowledge from his knocked-up rugby brain as possible – naturally, there was no exception at the team's base in sunny Cape Town.

Having been forced to wait around for an hour, the Brumbies finally arrived from a hard day's training and headed straight for the hotel swimming pool to cool off. Cracking jokes from the back was Mortlock who had his team-mates in hysterics.

A good team vibe can go a long way, but someone has got to tell their record points-scorer that he won't be scoring any points with the ladies if he sports a teeny tiny black Speedo in public again. The last time I spoke with Mortlock it was red, but luckily for him his rugby reputation precedes him…

PR: Hiya Stirling and thanks for covering up. Looking ahead – and not down anymore thankfully – to Friday's game. The Brumbies have a pretty good track record in Cape Town with three wins, three defeats and a draw in recent years – Newlands seems to be a much better hunting ground for you guys than say… Loftus Versfeld!

SM: I have a lot of fond memories playing at Newlands. It was the first time as an organisation that we went over there in 2000 and won. We followed up that win in 2002, 2004 and drew in 2006, so I've experienced more wins than losses and now have plenty of familiarity playing in Cape Town which is always a good thing to have.

PR: But you never came up against Jaque Fourie during that time sporting a Stormers jersey. Since leaving the Lions, the Springbok now finds himself in pretty good company and we've billed this confrontation as the one to watch this weekend.

SM: Yeah, Jaque – along with Bryan Habana – has given the Stormers a lot of firepower to an already quality backline. Personally, coming up against him will be a good challenge but realistically as a group and as a backline we focussing on being more cohesive as a unit and need to finish off any opportunities that come our way.

PR: Someone that's pretty good at creating those opportunities – and finishing them for that matter – is Matt Giteau. It must be great having a player of his potential on your side.

SM: It's good to have Gits back on board. He's a world class player and a guy that I've been lucky to play alongside of on many occasions. It's also great having Christian Lealiifano on the outside of him who just keeps getting better and better, and it will only do him the world of good having a player like Matt playing next to him.

PR: You mentioned Christian Lealiifano, has it been a quick adjustment having him as your partner in the midfield seeing that he played at number ten last year for the Brumbies?

SM: Yes, it's our first season playing together as a twelve/thirteen combination and it's something I'm really looking to build upon over the next period of time to get some consistency. So hopefully this will be a dominant combination later down the track.

PR: The Brumbies have played one, lost one so far in the opening stages of the Super 14 but it so nearly could have been two from two. Where did it all go wrong against the Bulls after impressing up until the final quarter of the match?

SM: I think our discipline and errors did not help at all. So at training we have worked hard at those things… but the reality is you got to turn up on game day, be ready to go and put in a big performance. You got to give it your best shot for the full eighty minutes and we let ourselves down in that department. The Bulls scored two or three quick tries and the match was over as a contest in the space of ten minutes. But we can now regroup. We know playing the Stormers at Newlands is a significant challenge and one that we have to be up for.

PR: The Stormers are missing skipper Schalk Burger this week. Is this a blessing in disguise for the Brumbies or will you miss the opportunity of tackling the home side's own version of the Hulk?

SM: Schalk's a great player but having said that, quality replacements at this level of the game will fit right in. I think we have a damn good back row and have just got to make sure we utilise them as well as we can.

PR: Does having Rocky Elsom fighting fit put the 'damn' in the “damn good back row” you speak of?

SM: (Laughs) It was really pleasing to see how Rocky went last week. He's a dynamic player, loves to get his hands on the ball and when he does that… he can be very damaging.

PR: The new law interpretation at the breakdown (the tackler must release the tackled player immediately) is making the game a lot faster. At 32 years of age, how are you finding keeping up with the pace of the game?

SM: Careful mate (winks). I think at this stage we are still getting a feel for the new interpretation of the laws. Certainly the scores from last weekend were huge and a lot of tries were scored. Expansive football is being played and that is because a lot of teams are holding on to possession. So, if you are effective in that area, you can score a lot of tries. We have to go back to the drawing board and re-organise our defence to deal with the sustained pressure from the opposition. But all in all, I think it's good for the game and it's very pleasing to see a lot of positive rugby being played.

PR: With Stephen Hoiles leading the Brumbies and Rocky Elsom calling the shots for the Wallabies, what's life like without the captain's armband that you held for so long?

SM: It's pretty chilled! I'm having a good time relaxing with the boys. But when it comes to playing on the pitch, you got a lot of guys who care a great deal in performing well. We very lucky at the Brumbies: we've got the current Wallabies captain, two former Wallaby captains