Brumbies call off marquee halfback search to focus on developing local Super Rugby talent

THEY’VE talked with almost every halfback in the world but the Brumbies are set to call off the search and back a skinny rookie and an apprentice carpenter.

THEY’VE talked with almost every foreign star to have ever worn a no. 9 but the Brumbies are set to call off the worldwide search for a marquee halfback and back a skinny rookie and an apprentice carpenter for the 2016 season and beyond.

The Brumbies got a boost ahead of Friday night’s big clash with the Bulls in Canberra with news Test prop Ben Alexander had re-signed with the club and ARU for another year, having turned down several big-money offers in Europe.

With halfback Nic White having accepted a big-money offer in France, however, the Brumbies’ have encountered major headaches in recent months trying to replace their Wallaby no.9.

ALEXANDER COMMITS FUTURE TO ARU, BRUMBIES

The Brumbies were chasing South Africa’s Fourie du Preez.

They’re not alone, either. Almost every Super Rugby franchise in Australia is searching for a halfback but the no. 9 market is currently rivalling tighthead prop as the biggest dry-zone of talent.

The ACT club decided at the start of the year they would scour the globe for a marquee foreign star to work with their young roster of halfbacks.

In an exhaustive search, All Blacks Andy Ellis and Jimmy Cowan, Springboks Fourie Du Preez and Francois Hougaard, Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw and English pair Ben Youngs and Danny Care were among those spoken to, but for a variety of reasons, none of the negotiations failed to progress.

Former All Blacks halfback Jimmy Cowan was on the Brumbies’ wishlist.

But it is understood coach Stephen Larkham has since decided to look inward and focus his energy on developing the young halfbacks already in the Brumbies system: Michael Dowsett and Joe Powell.

Dowsett, 23, has played 13 games for the Brumbies in the last two seasons and the slender former Sydneysider was even called up to start by Larkham this year ahead of White.

Powell, 21, made his debut this season and impressed after being called up from the Tuggeranong Vikings.

The Aussie under 20s no. 9 in 2014 needed to down tools and take leave from his job as an apprentice carpenter in Canberra to be able to train full-time with the Brumbies.

Powell is considered a bright prospect by many and though still un-signed for 2016, the Brumbies won’t want to dawdle with NSW and Queensland both also vigorously hunting halfbacks to replace Brendan McKibbin and Will Genia respectively.

Ben Alexander has committed to Australian rugby for another season.

Alexander explained his decision to stay by saying he’d decided he still had much to achieve in Australia.

With 72 Wallabies caps — equal with Al Baxter for most for an Australian prop — Alexander would have been eligible to still play for the Wallabies while overseas but said silverware at the Brumbies was an unfulfilled goal.

“I have played in a lot of big games but haven’t won anything, and that is something that hurts and burns and motivates me. I am not ready to move on yet until we start winning some silverware here at the Brumbies and with the Walabies,” he said.

The Waratahs, meanwhile, announced on Wednesday, they’d shored up their depth by re-signing hooker Hugh Roach for another season, and Jed Holloway, Jack Dempsey and Jim Stewart until the end of 2017.

“I’m looking forward to seeing these guys establish themselves on the rugby scene, and I think they will be great assets to our squad,” said incoming Waratahs head coach Daryl Gibson.

Originally published as Brumbies call off marquee halfback search to focus on developing local Super Rugby talent