Brumbies look to lift on road trip to Perth, South Africa

The Brumbies will face their first real test of the season when they go on the road to Perth and South Africa.

Sam Carter of the Brumbies, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring a try against the Hurricanes in round one.

After two good wins against the Hurricanes and NSW Waratahs at home, the Brumbies will face their first real test of the Super Rugby season when they go on the road to Perth and South Africa.

While beating last year’s finalists and semi-finalists was a great start, the Brumbies know that how they perform away from home will determine the success of their season, which they are determined will end with co-captains Stephen Moore and Christian Lealiifano lifting the trophy. The Brumbies play bogy team the Western Force in Perth on Friday night before taking on the Stormers and Cheetahs in South Africa.

“We have obviously got off to a good start,” second-rower Sam Carter said. “Now we’ve got three games on the road. It’s important to get these wins away.

“When we come back, if we get a good result in Perth and South Africa, we’ll be shaping well for the season. Our goal is to win away and to win well.”

Carter said the Brumbies would be wary of the Force, who have shown a capacity to upset them in the past.

The Force will be in a positive frame of mind after a solid, if unspectacular, win against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

“We have had a few mixed results in Perth over the last couple of years,” Carter said. “We’ll be looking to get a good result on Friday.”

Carter said the Brumbies preferred to make the long trip to South Africa, via Perth, earlier in the season while the players were still fresh.

“It’s always good to get it out of the way because blokes are fresh, coming off a big pre-season,” Carter said.

“We have trained well and played two games at home. Going away now is better, but we still have to get the results and we have to play well.”

While the Brumbies have emerged as early favourites for the Australian conference, if not the title, Carter warned against reading too much into their results.

“We’ve had two tough games,” Carter said. “The Hurricanes were finalists last season and the Waratahs were semi-finalists. You can’t read too much into it.

“You want to be playing well, but you want to be playing well at the end of July, beginning of ­August.”

Carter expected fellow second-rower Rory Arnold, who missed the Waratahs game with a knee injury, to return to the starting line-up in place of Blake Enever, who will be sidelined for a few weeks with a shoulder injury.

“Rory started against the Hurricanes,” Carter said. “He had a game against Sydney Uni for the (Brumby) Runners at the weekend. I’d assume he’d come in.

“It’s a shame for Blake, especially as he was very good towards the end of last year and trained well in the off-season.”

The Brumbies-Waratahs game was brutal, but Carter said the Wallabies players got over their enmity when they attended a national squad meeting with Australia coach Michael Cheika in Canberra on Saturday morning.

“It’s not too bad. We’ve done it before,” said Carter, who was called into the Wallabies’ World Cup squad last year as an injury replacement.

“We’ve been to ones where we have lost the night before and we’ve been to ones where we have won. Everyone respects each other. You don’t mention the game. You just catch up and talk about what we are doing in the ­future.

“I came into the World Cup squad towards the end. I wasn’t picked originally, but it was good to touch base and cover a few things we are going to go over this year.

“That’s my goal. Wherever you play rugby you want to play at the highest level. I’ve been there before and want to be back there this year.”