Friend puts Brumbies on trial
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Friend puts Brumbies on trial
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...px?storypage=0
Scrumhalf, props and the back-row conundrum will be ACT Brumbies coach Andy Friend's major focuses in tomorrow night's trial against the Wellington Hurricanes.
Friend yesterday named a surprisingly strong starting team and extended 14-man bench for the match at Canberra Stadium, in which eight players with Wallabies experience will play.
While adamant ''virtually every position'' for the Brumbies' opening Super14 match in a fortnight remained up for grabs, Friend earmarked three key positions that were giving him selection headaches.
Josh Holmes will start tomorrow night's fixture at scrumhalf and play for the opening 40 minutes.
His two rivals for the permanent position Patrick Phibbs and James Stannard will play 20 minutes each in the second half to show their worth.
Each of the four props Nic Henderson, Guy Shepherdson, Salesi Ma'afu and Ben Alexander vying for the two starting spots and one bench spot will be given 40 minutes to impress tomorrow night.
And back-rowers Shawn Mackay, Mark Chisholm, Peter Kimlin, Julian Salvi, Stephen Hoiles, Sitaleki Timani and Ben Hand will all be given adequate time to fight for the locks and flankers roles.
The only players Friend didn't consider for selection were Wallabies Stirling Mortlock, George Smith, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Stephen Moore and injured quartet Gene Fairbanks (neck), Huia Edmonds (knee), Mitchell Chapman (shoulder) and Alfi Mafi (ankle).
It is rare, especially in the first trial of the year, for a team to be so strong but Friend made no apologies for his selections.
''We've got a strong squad so it's very hard not to pick a strong team,'' the coach said.
''We want to see how some of our combinations click and the only way to do that was to pick some of the players who are in line for selection come round one against the Highlanders.''
Friend has been a big fan of Holmes ever since he saw him as a teenager at the NSW Waratahs four years ago when Holmes was starting out and Friend spent three months in an assistant role at the club.
But he denied his decision to give the 22-year-old twice as much game time tomorrow night meant he favoured him as his starting scrumhalf for the Super14 season.
''It's no guide at all, completely nothing to read into there,'' Friend said.
''We've got our three No9s and all will be given a run on Friday night. Josh and James have trained a full pre-season with us and unfortunately for Patrick he's had some injury troubles but certainly no decision has been made as to who will start round one.''
Tomorrow night's trial will also provide the first chance for four of the Brumbies' six new recruits to impresses the coaches.
Hand, Stannard, Timani and Mackay will all make their unofficial Brumbies debut while fellow recruit Moore will play against the NSW Waratahs in a trial next week.
The sixth recruit Mafi, formerly of the Waratahs, is struggling with a syndesmosis (ankle) injury and will be unavailable for selection in the NSW game.
Friend said he wouldn't be alarmed if the Brumbies lost tomorrow night but would be concerned if the players struggled to cope with what he described as ''the team's new style of rugby''.
''We want to see how players are playing under our new style and while we've made some excellent progress through the pre-season, it counts for nothing unless we can start putting it into practise.''
Tomorrow night's match will be Stephen Hoiles's first as Brumbies captain.
SUPER 14 TRIAL
ACT Brumbies v Wellington Hurricanes, tomorrow night at Canberra Stadium at 7.40pm. Tickets from $15 available through Ticketek or at the gate.
BRUMBIES
1. Nic Henderson, 2. John Ulugia, 3. Guy Shepherdson, 4. Shawn Mackay, 5. Mark Chisholm, 6. Peter Kimlin, 7. Julian Salvi, 8.Stephen Hoiles, 9. Josh Holmes, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 11. Francis Fainifo, 12. Tyrone Smith, 13. Afusipa Taumoepeau, 14. Peter Betham, 15.Mark Gerrard. Reserves: Nathan Charles, Ben Alexander, Sitaleki Timani, Ben Hand, Patrick Phibbs, Matt Toomua, Pat McCabe, James Stannard, Clyde Rathbone, Henry Vanderglas, Salesi Ma'afu, Anthony Hegarty, Talalelei Gray, Sanualio Afeaki.
HURRICANES
1. John Schwalger, 2. Dane Coles. 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Api Naikatini, 5. Bryn Evans, 6.Karl Lowe, 7. Scott Waldrom, 8. Victor Vito, 9. Alby Mathewson, 10. Willie Ripia, 11. David Smith, 12. Tamati Ellison, 13. Jason Kawau, 14.Andre Taylor, 15. Zac Guildford. Reserves: Ged Robinson, Neemia Tialata, Jason Eaton, Ma'a Nonu, Piri Weepu, Daniel Kirkpatrick, Cory Jane, Nick Crosswell, Hosea Gear, Faifili Levave, Jacob Ellison.
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