Brumbies 'Bomb Squad' ready to explode into semi-final
The Brumbies are backing their finishers to prove the difference ahead of Saturday's semi-final against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
Stephen Larkham has built his own version of the 'Bomb Squad', the famous finishing unit that delivered the Springboks a World Cup title in 2019.
Flanker Luke Reimer has epitomised this ever since making the move to Canberra in 2021.
Reimer has played 30 games for the club but has never started more than three games in a season. It speaks to not only the quality of the Brumbies back row but just how crucial the 23-year-old has become in the closing moments.
His try-saver on Ardie Savea has garnered all the attention but his work to stop the All Blacks superstar off the first scrum after the siren was crucial.
"'Lukey' came on and did the job he’s been doing all year… he calls himself the game-winner and he showed it again,” fellow finisher and lock Tom Hooper told reporters
“We’re happy to be on the plane over and a lot of thanks to him and the finishers.
“I’m sure both us and the Hurricanes were on an edge there, didn’t know which way it was going to go but fortunately it went ours.”
Their impressive performances in closing out games have suddenly led to a host of players emerging on Eddie Jones' radar for this year's World Cup.
This is led by props Blake Schoupp and Rhys Van Nek, who both started the year on the Brumbies' wider training squad.
The pair were included in Jones' April training camp, with Van Nek added after Schoupp was ruled out due to a concussion.
Schoupp is a 'showman', revving up the crowd in the dying moments of the 37-33 win over the Hurricanes, even if it left fellow finisher Hooper, who has quietly emerged as a Wallabies contender in his own rights, feeling the pressure of the moment.
“Honestly I was thinking ‘you better not stuff this up’, you’ve revved up the crowd and now you have to do a job” Hooper recalled.
"I went up to him after the game and said ‘Schouppy, you’ve revving up the crowd, I was so nervous, like what if the scrum went down?’ and he was like ‘that was never going to happen
“He’s a showman like that, he backs himself and we back him 100%."
As for Van Nek, he provides unique versatility that could be invaluable at a World Cup given the 12-day mandatory concussion stand-down period, able to cover all three positions in the front-row whilst Schoupp can cover loosehead and hooker.
"That’s our young reserve front-rowers who are coming on for two Wallabies and they’re doing an absolute job," Hooper added.
It reflects the culture built by Dan McKellar and Stephan Larkham around role clarity and players making an impact regardless of where they start the game.
Larkham has shown this, especially in the halves, opting for any variation of his four stars in starting or finishing roles in 2023.
Jack Debreczeni produced a man-of-the-match performance in his fifth start of the year whilst don't discount the importance of Noah Lolesio in setting up Tom Wright's try before kicking the clutch conversion that ensured the visitors needed a try to win the game.
Ryan Lonergan and Nic White have shared the number nine jersey almost equally whilst brother Lachlan has been rotated with fellow Wallabies Connal McInerney and Billy Pollard at hooker.
"For me, it's really just around job clarity," assistant Rod Seib believes. "They've got to understand what their point of difference is and what they need to bring to the game in the last 20 minutes.
"Luke Reimer for example, he knows his point of difference is that poach threat so he's got to be making sure he's working to get in a position to deliver that.
"Regardless of what position they are, they all know very clearly what they've got to add when they come on. They can't just join in seamlessly, they’ve got to actually make a difference and they all know how they can do that."
