Brumbies playing ‘two grand finals’ to avoid ugly Super Rugby history

The Brumbies are staring down the barrel of unwanted Super Rugby history, and must play “two grand finals” to clinch a long-awaited title.

The Brumbies are looking to avoid an unwanted piece of history this weekend, as the first team in Super Rugby history to lose four successive semi-finals.

The Canberra side have been knocked out at the final four stage the previous three seasons, and no side has failed on four consecutive occasions.

So they’re treating Saturday’s semi against the Chiefs in Hamilton as the first of two grand finals.

“We’re pouring absolutely everything into this one because we know we need to, because at the end of the day we fell short the last three years,” Brumbies lock Tom Hooper said.

“I think you take a lot of learnings out of the last three years, it’s all been building to a head for a long time now.

“Obviously we’ve lost against the Chiefs earlier in the year (49-34 in Hamilton) and we took a lot of stuff out of that game that we needed to improve on, and we’re looking to make sure we’re putting that into practice this weekend. That game was, if you just look at the score, probably not really reflective of how tight that one was.

“For me, the grand final is this weekend. We’ve got two grand finals left and we’re going to pour absolutely everything into it.”

Robbie Valetini takes on the Chiefs defence during the Brumbies’ semi final loss in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

There is added incentive for Hooper to finish with silverware, given he is departing the Brumbies to join English club Exeter alongside teammate Len Ikitau.

“That’s why I’ve been flogging myself on the weekend, I’ve been draining myself every week,” Hooper said.

“It’s like driving down a highway. You don’t need a full tank to make it to the end of the road. So the end of the road’s coming up and I’ve filled up my tank this week, but I’m about to empty it again and I’ll do it again next week.

“After that I’ll just be filling it up with a couple of pina coladas somewhere, just relaxing after the season with the trophy in my hand.”

Tom Wright reacts after the semi final loss to the Blues in 2022. Picture: Getty Images

While there has been criticism of the finals format given the Chiefs lost to the Blues last week and the Brumbies beat the Hurricanes, but the Chiefs get to host the semi-final given they finished first, Hooper dismissed any notion it is unfair.

“At the end of the day, we knew throughout the course of the season we needed to finish in those top two positions for that very reason,” Hooper said.

“Obviously, we fell short against the Crusaders. That means we have to go across the ditch and beat them on their home soil, which is nice.

Tom Hooper runs the ball during the Burmbies’ clash with the Crusaders last month. Picture: Getty Images

“The Chiefs deserve it because they reaped the rewards of their hard work throughout the season.

“There’s only 11 teams in this competition and they’ve obviously been the best team throughout the majority of the year.

“Even though they didn’t have one of their better nights on the weekend against the Blues, they still deserve a home semi-final in my eyes because we should have done better throughout the season and we dropped a few games that we shouldn’t have.”

Originally published as Brumbies playing ‘two grand finals’ to avoid ugly Super Rugby history