Brumbies up ante on Cheetahs backrow

Ben Mowen on the charge for the Brumbies. Picture: Kym Smith Source: DailyTelegraph

THEY have made a record-breaking 659 tackles between them this season, but the workload of the Cheetahs backrow will get a whole lot busier Sunday afternoon following a warning from Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen.

While Pieter `Lappies' Labushagne, Phillip van der Walt and Heinrich Brussow have carried their team to a maiden finals series with astonishing tackling statistics, Mowen plans to turn that strength into weakness at Canberra Stadium in their qualifying final.

"They rely heavily on those guys, and the way you counter it is you make them do a lot of tackling," Mowen said.

"If you're tackling up around 20 per player, particularly in that backrow, it's going to take a little bit of sting out of their attack.

"We'll make sure those guys get through their usual amount of work."

No backrow combination has ever combined for as many tackles in a Super Rugby season.

Labushagne (averaging 17.4 tackles per game), van der Walt (12.75) and Brussow (13.86) have transformed a team known for its expansive attack into an all-round force.

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske hailed the trio as a key to his side's first appearance in Super Rugby finals.

"They are a definitely one of the biggest reasons for us making the playoffs, all three of them, the intensity and work-rate they've managed to sustain throughout the season has been unbelievable," Drotske said.

"Luckily we never had injuries in the three loose forwards, they were able to play week in, week out and sustain that intensity."

In just his second season of Super Rugby, 24-year-old Labushagne could today overtake the record of last year's top tackler Marcell Coetzee (273) despite the Sharks backrower playing all the way through to the 2012 grand final.

While it is common to see flankers dominate the tackling statistics, it is unheard of for three backrowers in the same team to be among the top tacklers in the entire competition.

Brumbies blindside flanker Peter Kimlin expects the Cheetahs to pose numerous problems.

"They're a very scrambling team, especially their back three in the backrow, but it's the whole team," Kimlin said.

"They're going to play for each other.

"They're willing to run the ball pretty wide and play enterprising rugby.

"It's certainly not going to be an easy game."

But the Brumbies remain supremely confident, with Kimlin revealing that last year's shock last-round loss to the Blues  which denied them a place in the finals  had served as constant motivation this season.

"What was a really good turning point for us was that Blues game, we spoke about that throughout the whole pre-season this year and going into most games, speaking about how disappointing it was," Kimlin said.

"It's massive, I think we needed that loss last year, and it really put the guys in good stead."

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