ACT Brumbies

The Brumbies (formerly known as the ACT Brumbies, for sponsorship reasons referred to as CA Brumbies) are a Super 14 rugby union team based in Canberra, Australia and named for the wild horses which inhabit Canberra's hinterland. The team represents the ACT and Southern New South Wales regions; a map showing the Brumbies region can be found here. The Brumbies region roughly coincides with the area of southeastern Australia in which all three of Australia's historically major codes of football—Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union—are widely popular. In most of the country, union takes a back seat to either Aussie rules or league, if not to both.

The Brumbies were formed in 1996 to provide a third Australian team for the newly-formed Super 12 (now Super 14) competition. It was predicted that the Brumbies, made up of so called 'rejects' — players not wanted by the other two teams — would crash very, very quickly. Since then, they have enjoyed more success than the other two (the New South Wales Waratahs and the Queensland Reds), reaching five finals and winning two, being the only Australian team to have done so. They defeated South Africa's Sharks 36-6 in 2001 and won the competition for the second time on May 22, 2004 with a 47-38 victory over the Crusaders of New Zealand's South Island.

The team plays at Canberra Stadium (formerly known as Bruce Stadium) in Canberra and was coached in 2004 by David Nucifora, who was sacked, somewhat controversially, despite leading the Brumbies to their second title (the first was won with former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones). For the 2005 season, Laurie Fisher was appointed as coach.

File:ACTBrumbiesOldLogo.gif

Brumbies old logo

Famous Brumbies players include Stephen Larkham, widely regarded as one of the best fly-halves in the world; George Gregan, the current Wallabies captain; George Smith, one of the finest loose forwards in the world; and rising star Matt Giteau. Famous past players include Joe Roff, Owen Finegan and David Giffin. The Brumbies have traditionally formed the backbone of the Wallabies.

The Brumbies mascot is Brumby Jack.

2006 Squad

Mark Chisholm scores a try for the Brumbies vs Force, February 2006

Stirling Mortlock converts the same try

Brumbies vs Waratahs, April 2006

Adam Ashley-Cooper Ben Batger Luke Burgess Alister Campbell Mark Chisholm Tim Curran (R) Anthony Faingaa (R) Saia Faingaa (R) Gene Fairbanks Mark Gerrard George Gregan Daniel Heenan Nic Henderson Stephen Larkham Salesi Ma’afu James McCormack Stirling Mortlock (c) Peter Owens David Palavi Jeremy Paul Patrick Phibbs Clyde Rathbone Julian Salvi Radike Samo Guy Shepherdson George Smith Richard Stanford (R) Jone Tawake John Ulugia (R) Adam Wallace-Harrison Ben White Bill Young Laurie Fisher (Coach) Ray McNicol (Manager).

(R)= Rookie

Super Rugby positions

1996 ..	5th
1997 ..	2nd	.. (lost final to Auckland Blues)
1998 ..	10th
1999 ..	5th
2000 ..	2nd	.. (lost final to Crusaders)
2001 ..	1st	.. (defeated Sharks in final)
2002 ..	2nd	.. (lost final to Crusaders)
2003 ..	4th	.. (lost semi-final to Blues)
2004 ..	1st	.. (defeated Crusaders in final)
2005 ..	5th
2006 ..	6th

External links

• Brumbies official site
• Statistics from itsrugby.com

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