Brumbies enjoying success with combination of old Jake White era and subtle changes

RUBBING shoulders daily with Paralympians at the AIS has been one of several benefits to a season of change for the Brumbies, Stephen Moore says.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 25: Stephen Moore of the Brumbies passes during the round 11 Super Rugby match between the Brumbies and the Chiefs at Canberra Stadium on April 25, 2014 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

RUBBING shoulders daily with Paralympians at the Australian Institute of Sport has been one of several benefits to a season of wholesale change for the Brumbies, according to vice-captain Stephen Moore.

Former coach Jake White will arrive back in his beloved Canberra next week with the Sharks but apart from familiar faces and lingering vestiges of his game plan, he’d recognise little in the Brumbies post break-up.

The biggest change has been geographical, with the Brumbies having moved into temporary digs at the AIS over summer while their new headquarters at the University of Canberra are completed.

Players toured the facility this week but won’t move into June, and as far as Moore is concerned, that’s fine.

Though their spread-apart home is a far cry from their well-equipped former bowls club home at Kingston, credited for some of the Brumbies’ success, unforeseen benefits of moving to the AIS have emerged.

“We’re very lucky to train at the AIS and see the other athletes and the dedication they put in. That’s very good for our young guys to see,” Moore said.News_Image_File: Brumbies’ new training facility, which is nearing the end of construction at the University of Canberra.

“There are the resident athletes here training, and a lot of them are athletes with disabilities. To be able to watch those guys train and prepare is pretty inspirational for us.

“We can complain about getting in an ice bath or something but to see the lengths those guys go to, with the incapacities they’ve got, to achieve their goals, is pretty motivating for our guys.”

The intimacy of their former digs is no longer; Larkham’s office are found by walking through a maze of physio’s rooms, players are in a different building and meals are taken not in a personal kitchen, but in the AIS communal dining hall.

It could have potentially seen the Brumbies’ vaunted “family” edge lost but after White left and Stephen Larkham and Laurie Fisher took over, Moore says removal trucks were precisely what was required.

“After losing the final there and coming so close with a young group, there is potential there to fall into a bit of lull, in terms of what you need to do differently, what you need to evolve and change as a team,” Moore says.

“The fact we had to move out of our old base and into the temporary set up at the AIS really forced us, in a way, to change what we were doing.”News_Rich_Media: Fox Sports rugby union commentator reviews all the weekend's action.

It has worked. The Brumbies have stayed Australian conference leaders with a 7/2 record, and looked the same powerful machine in 2013. Differences of on-field life post-White will be analysed next week with the Sharks arriving but it essentially boils down to this: same, same but different.

It might have been imagined the Larkham-Fisher regime would scale back the pragmatic White-formula and get back to their old free-flowing, attacking roots.

They have, but only a bit. Defensively they’re the same aggressive beast but statistically, across most attacking indicators such as linebreaks, metres carried, offloads etc, the Larkham and White eras are almost indistinguishable.

The fact the Brumbies were an efficient try-scoring machine last season (43, fifth in the comp) means that their impressive total of 27 tries (=2nd) this year sees them marginally above 2013.

They now average 3 tries a game compared to 2.5 last year, and one or two other seemingly minor stats also point to the core of the Larkham influence.News_Image_File: Brumbies player Henry Speight in the Climate room.

After getting 42% of their points from penalties last year, the Brumbies have only got 28% this year. Points from tries have jumped from 45% to 56%, signalling the Brumbies aren’t settling for the sticks as often but instead backing their attack; a failure of which hurt them in big games last year.

“We have certainly tried to grow our game. Last year, even though we scored a lot of tries, we probably were pretty conservative. This year we have a bit more licence to play what its in front of us,” Moore said.

“Being a year older, with basically the same team, we are more comfortable with each other and with each other’s game. That allows you to add a few more bits and pieces.”

Brumby defence will have to be rock-solid on Saturday to beat the Crusaders in Christchurch, where no ACT side has won since 2000.

The team hasn’t toured to Canterbury since 2010 due to the earthquake, meaning most Brumbies have never played there.

That lack of negative history may prove valuable, believes Moore, as will the Brumbies strong record of eight wins from 12 games in New Zealand in the last three seasons.

“We can draw confidence from that. We don’t want to use travel as an excuse and we have tried to really avoid that as a team,” Moore said.

“We will just get stuck in and try and get the job done.”