On a wing with flair: Henry Speight ready to bring his tackle-busting form into semifinal with Waratahs

HENRY Speight is “peaking at the right time”, Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has warned the Waratahs as their semi-final showdown looms.

Brumbies player Henry Speight at his home in Canberra.

DANGER man Henry Speight is “peaking at the right time”, Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has warned the Waratahs as their semi-final showdown looms.

The man to watch after a fortnight of outrageous brilliance, Speight will be the greatest threat to NSW’s hopes of a grand final berth, and Larkham expects his wing star to continue his red-hot form on Saturday.

Speight left Larkham and Brumbies coaching director Laurie Fisher stunned during his performance in last weekend’s 32-30 elimination final win over the Chiefs, running for 186 metres and making 13 tackle busts in one of the most dominant performances by a winger in Super Rugby.

“I was quite amazed, we both were, me and Laurie in the box, to the feats he was achieving on the field,” Larkham said.

“It was a very special performance from Henry, one of the best I’ve seen.

“Henry is a big-game player, he is peaking at the right end of the season. He’s put a couple of nice game together and I expect that to continue.”

Speight added that NSW’s 39-8 victory over the Brumbies just three weeks ago would count for little when the sides clash at Allianz Stadium this time.

Henry Speight makes one of his tackle-busting runs for the Brumbies against the Chiefs at GIO Stadium.

“You can’t take past results and compare, because at the end of the day it’s a semi-final match,” Speight said.

“The season is on the line. Pride and passion and everything will come into it, we’re just looking forward to it.”

The man likely to be marking Speight, Waratahs winger Rob Horne, said the way to shut down his rival would be to “put yourself in a position to minimise his impact”.

“He was incredible on the weekend in that first half,” Horne said.

“It’s an exciting challenge for us to minimise his influence on the game, because he is a big cog in their machine.”

Horne backed the comments of NSW coach Michael Cheika, saying the team wanted the toughest path possible to winning their maiden title.

“This is they way it’s got to be, we have to play the Brumbies to make the grand final,” Horne said.

“Whoever wins that game deserves to be there. We need to play the best teams available to us.

“There’s no hiding that we both like to play each other.”

Originally published as On a wing with flair: Henry Speight ready to bring his tackle-busting form into semifinal with Waratahs