Belief Brumbies are ‘off-casts’ from NSW no longer on the money, Stephen Hoiles says

THE Brumbies can no longer use their reputation as NSW offcuts for motivation, their former captain turned Waratahs flanker Stephen Hoiles says.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 24: Stephen Hoiles of the Waratahs speaks to the media during a Waratahs Super Rugby training session at Kippax Lake on July 24, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

THE Brumbies can no longer use their reputation as NSW offcuts for motivation, their former captain turned Waratahs backrower Stephen Hoiles has declared.

When the Canberra franchise first started, it was largely made up of players rejected by the Waratahs, and they have used that history to continually fire themselves up and outperform their star-studded rivals.

But on the eve of their semi-final clash on Saturday night at a packed Allianz Stadium - the first time the teams have clashed in the finals since 2002 - Hoiles said it would be misguided if this Brumbies, stacked with 11 Wallabies, used the spurned little brother attitude to drive them.

“They’ve always played on the fact that they’re the off-casts, but to be fair I don’t think the current side could say that,” Hoiles said.

“They’ve had a lot of success recently. NSW has been the ones that haven’t had success in the last however many years.

“When I got there, I got to play with the likes of Jeremy Paul, [Stephen] Larkham, and I know that the guys who were there when it started, it was very much their mentality.

“And they were feeding that into anyone who arrived there and who was new.

“You were taught to feel that way.

“But if you look at the game now, there’s five teams all throughout Australia, they’ve got Perth and Melbourne, that doesn’t exist anymore.

“Players play anywhere, they tend to swap clubs a lot more, and you play each other a lot more than you used to.

“You used to only play each other once a year, or if you were lucky a second time in the semi-final.

“They used to have Waratahs week down there and you used to get right up for it, but I just don’t think that would be as prominent as it used to be, purely because a lot of their guys have come from other sides, Brisbane and a fair few other places.

“I think if they were leaning on that as a bit of motivation, then maybe it’s a bit mislead.

“They’ve been a strong, strong club for 10 years.”

Hoiles, who was at the Brumbies from 2007-11 and was a well-respected skipper in that time, has revived his career at NSW following a career-threatening ankle injury.

His departure from the Brumbies was inglorious, with then coach Jake White making it clear he had no future at the club, but Hoiles is not using that history to seek personal revenge this weekend.

“I don’t have any association with this current team, I sat here last year supporting NSW,” Hoiles said.

“I’m from here and while I was down there for five years, I enjoyed my time, but in footy things change every season.

“I haven’t been down there since 2011 so my association with that team, beside a few individual friendships, they’re just another team.

“I’m certainly preferring being back where I’m from, this is where I always planned to stay after footy, this is home.”

Hoiles has taken over in the starting side for injured NSW captain Dave Dennis and is also running the lineouts, which faltered badly in their previous outing against Queensland.

Hoiles will be under immense pressure to rectify that against his former Randwick teammate Ben Mowen, the Brumbies captain and leading lineout stealer in the country.

“We’ve looked at it, and put in a few little things that will hopefully improve on the last performance,” Hoiles said.

“You’ve got to ignore the distractions around you, ignore the pressure and the movements of the opposition and just go through with it, even if you feel as though they’re on to you.

“You always should be one step ahead, and at certain times we were a little bit limited.

“Basically a couple of early calls from myself I think put us under pressure and how we handled that was interesting.

“We needed the half-time break against the Reds to gain our composure, the second half was a lot better.”

Originally published as Belief Brumbies are ‘off-casts’ from NSW no longer on the money, Stephen Hoiles says