New Brumby plays hard to get
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PETER FITZGERALD
24 Jul, 2010 12:00 AM
Word out at Brumbyland is they've just signed the next freak of Australian rugby.
His name is Samu Wara.
Chances are you would never have heard of him.
But such is this 24-year-old's reputation, he even had senior Brumbies and Wallabies Rocky Elsom and Stephen Moore aghast in amazement earlier this season.
In the lead-up to the Brumbies versus Queensland Reds match in May, Brumbies coach Andy Friend called on Wara for a training drill.
Friend needed the Easts fullback to simulate Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper.
With the senior Brumbies acting as defenders, Wara would run at them in a similar style to Cooper, try to step them as Cooper would try, try to run through them as Cooper would.
What happened next stunned Wallabies skipper Elsom and hooker Moore.
Neither of them could get a hand on Wara.
They'd try to tackle him, but he'd step straight past them.
They'd try again to tackle him but he'd sneak right through them.
They'd try to chase him but couldn't get within cooee of the speedster.
It got to the stage where the senior players looked at Friend and said, in no uncertain terms, ''who is this kid? He's standing us up and making us look like fools''.
The kid was Wara, who hopes to develop from training guinea pig to regular Brumbies teammate in next year's Super15.
Adding to the amazement is the fact this was his first season playing rugby.
Wara, of Fijian descent but who was born and raised in Sydney's inner west, is a league convert.
He was a Balmain Tigers junior who represented the club's premier league side in 2007 before moving to the North Sydney Bears for the next two seasons.
It was only at the end of 2009 his manager sent a video of his client's ability to a few rugby clubs, and the Brumbies were impressed.
They initially signed Wara on an academy contract before yesterday upgrading him to a one-year rookie deal.
He will exclusively train with the senior squad next year in a bid to force his way into the back line.
Like Elsom and Moore, Friend is a big fan of Wara.
''He has the potential to be a real excitement machine in our code,'' the coach said.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...t/1894404.aspx
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