Brumbies want to “stop Sonny Bill Williams in his tracks”

Australian teams have lost all 14 games against Kiwi rivals this year, but the Brumbies plan to put a stop to that against Sonny Bill Williams’ Blues.

THE Brumbies have a plan to stop Sonny Bill Williams “in his tracks” on Sunday as they attempt to become the first Australian team to beat a Kiwi side in Super Rugby this year.

Williams will start in the centres for the Blues, who are New Zealand’s lowest-placed team but still equal with Australian conference leaders the Brumbies in points accrued.

Australian sides have lost all 14 trans-Tasman encounters in Super Rugby in 2017, a startling statistic that has left the Brumbies desperate to become the first team to break the hoodoo in Canberra on Sunday afternoon.

The Brumbies hope that by stopping Sonny they’ll be able to break the NZ team hoodoo for Oz rugby sides.

“When you’ve got a good backline like they have you can’t focus too much on one player, certainly we’ve got a plan for Sonny, and we’ve got a plan for a few other players in their backline as well,” Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.

Brumbies five-eighth Wharenui Hawera welcomed the challenge of Williams running into his defensive channel.

“I am looking forward to it actually, he is a phenomenal player, I’ve come up against a few great No.12s already this year so he’s just another one to add to the list,” Hawera said.

“Hopefully I can stop him in his tracks.”

Hawera said his side is keen to overturn the dominance of Kiwi sides.

“Once we get out there, we’re looking to break this drought,” Hawera said.

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“I think just firing on all cylinders and when we make mistakes, just killing the ball, not giving them any opportunities.

“We obviously know on turnover ball they’re dangerous, we’ll look to stop the ball right there.

“We want to ... play a positive brand of footy, it’s what everyone wants to see.

“We’ll just look to cut out those small areas where we’re not so accurate and make sure we nail our game plan and nail the opportunities that we see.”

Larkham said his side had been developing plans to beat Kiwi sides since last November.

“In review of last year, we had difficulty beating New Zealand sides so we spent a lot of time on it in the preseason,” Larkham said.

“There’s been a good focus in-season on the tactics that we think we need to beat New Zealand sides.

“It’s about being a little bit more clinical with that this weekend.”