Brumbies don’t hold any ill-feeling towards former coach Jake White, who returns to Canberra this week
THERE is concern about his inside knowledge but prop Ben Alexander says the Brumbies will hold no ill-will toward Sharks coach Jake White.
THERE is concern about his inside knowledge but prop Ben Alexander says the Brumbies will hold no ill-will toward Jake White when their former coach returns to Canberra this week with the Sharks.
White quit the Brumbies last year — halfway through a four-season contract — to move back to his native South Africa; disappointed he missed out on the Wallabies coaching job to Ewen McKenzie. The former Springboks coach subsequently took over as coach of the Durban-based Sharks.
White’s new and old clubs — who sit first and second on the Super Rugby table respectively — clash on Saturday night and while fans may give him a jeer or two, ACT and Wallabies prop Ben Alexander said gratitude, not resentment, was the feeling held for White within the club.
“There is no big issue with Jake leaving. Personally I am tremendously thankful that he came to the Brumbies, and for the time we had with him. Most of the guys are the same,” Alexander said.
“He turned us around from the rabble that we were and took us to the grand final, so I thoroughly enjoyed being coached by him. You could always have a yarn with him and I am thankful for the position he left us in.
“He built up the Brumbies and he’s right in saying he left us in a better place than where we were.”
The success of new coaching duo Stephen Larkham and Laurie Fisher has allowed the Brumbies to move on from the White era without any lingering hang-ups.
The meeting of White and his former assistants will be fascinating, however, with inside knowledge of their rivals’ strategies held by both camps.
“There will be the curiosity factor with Jake obviously. He knows our game well, so from a strategic stand point that’ll be interesting and the coaches will have to do some thinking there,” Alexander said.
“They (the Sharks) squeeze sides. They start well, put pressure on early via the scoreboard, they have a very low error rate and are very disciplined.
“But if you give away penalties against them, a guy like Frans Steyn will pop them over from anywhere and before you know it you’re chasing the game. We have to be disciplined.”
Discipline is the dividing point between the sides, with the Brumbies giving away more penalties with an aggressive attitude at the breakdown.
The game is likely to see both teams using kick-and-pressure tactics, so Alexander said eliminating mistakes will be crucial to not give away cheap points and fall behind on the scoreboard.
Precisely what they failed to do in their loss to the Crusaders, in other words.
“We are a side who have been able to start well and put scoreboard pressure on sides. Yesterday (in Christchurch) was the opposite. We made far too many mistakes in that first half, which enabled them to keep the scoreboard ticking over and then we were chasing the game,” Alexander said.
“It felt like we were playing the All Blacks, in fact. We made errors, personally I made a couple, and straight away they turned them into points.
“We got taught a lot of lessons, so we will have to learn from this week.”
Originally published as Brumbies don’t hold any ill-feeling towards former coach Jake White, who returns to Canberra this week