Brumbies look to youth for opening trial
Brumbies look to youth for opening trial
January 17, 2006 - 12:32pm
Story by: ACTRU
Lock Adam Wallace-Harrison returns for the Brumbies this weekend, after representing Australia A in Bordeaux in November
Brumbies Head Coach Laurie Fisher has named a youthful squad ahead of Saturday night's opening pre-season trial match against the Waratahs at WIN Stadium.
Most of the Brumbies senior playing contingent has been rested for the match, whileFisher has named eight players from the Brumbies Academy squad, as well as sevenSuper 14 rookies in the 32-man squad.
Just four of the Brumbies' fourteen capped Wallabies will play in the match, including prop Bill Young, Reds recruit Daniel Heenan, lock Alister Campbell and talented outsideback Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Recent Spring Tour representative Adam Wallace-Harrison will play his first match since the Australia 'A' clash in Paris, while seasoned campaigners Joel Wilson and Guy Shepherdson have also been included in the squad.
Fisher will use the trial to test a crop of the team's emerging talent.
The squad contains a strong local representation; including three Canberra Vikings representatives from last season in flanker James Stonham, lock Dan Guiness andwinger Ben Johnson, along with Western District back-rower Peter Kimlin and back John Williams.
They will be joined by Wagga Wagga junior Jason Lagaali, Goulburn product Luke Gray, NSW Country winger and Armidale junior Francis Fainifo and dual Australian Schools back Christian Lealiifano for their first opportunity in a genuine Super 14 trial match.
Bill Young and Joel Wilson will share captaincy duties, while Fisher has confirmed that all 32 squad members will see time on the field during the match.
For 46-test veteran Young, the match will provide a much-needed hit out, having not taken the field since the final match of the Tri-Nations series.
"I'm very keen to have a run. There are a lot of young guys in the squad so there's a good opportunity for those guys to show their wares and a good opportunity for blokes like myself to build some match-fitness having not played for six months or so," said Young.
Young has completed his first full pre-season of training in several years, gaining eight kilos of muscle since October.
"It was certainly my aim to gain a bit of size and conditioning but I'll see how I go (carrying the extra weight) in a game situation this weekend."
"I've trained well but you can do as much training as you like; there's nothing like getting some game time under your belt," he said.
Brumbies Head Coach Laurie Fisher is looking forward to seeing the progress of a number of his emerging talent.
"We'll be looking at players on an individual basis in terms of their performance to assess the progress they've made over the past two months of the pre-season," he said.
"We'll be mixing and matching the team and trying players in different positions. The result is really inconsequential to us and we're not expecting a tremendous team performance with the majority of the squad coming from the Academy."
"Our main concerns are on our set piece execution, defensive structure and general skill level."
Pre-season trial match
CA Brumbies v Waratahs
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Saturday 21 January 2006
Kick off: 5.00pm
CA Brumbies squad
Forwards: Bill Young, Guy Shepherdson, Nic Henderson, Salesi Ma'afu, John Ulugia, Saia Faingaa, David Palavi, James McCormack, Adam Wallace-Harrison, Alister Campbell, Richard Stanford, Dan Guiness, Daniel Heenan, Peter Kimlin, Ben White, James Stonham, Julian Salvi
Backs: Luke Burgess, Patrick Phibbs, Gene Fairbanks, Luke Gray, Joel Wilson, Tim Curran, Anthony Faingaa, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Owens, Ben Batger, Ben Johnson, Jason Lagaali, John Williams, Francis Fainifo, Christian Lealiifano
