Wallaby star Matt Giteau has urged his team-mates to keep up the intensity they showed against the Reds on the weekend as they search for a place in the play offs.
The Brumbies took their game to a new high for the 2010 season and out-played the Reds who managed to hold on to their top four place despite losing to the bonus point Brumbies.
The loss meant that the Brumbies have now beaten the Reds on 15 of the 16 occasions that the teams have met and the Reds have still never left Canberra as the victors.
Brumbies playmaker Matt Giteau has now revealed just how determined the Brumbies had been to keep their record against the Reds intact.
"The Reds have been playing some great footy this year and they deserve everything complimentary said about them, but we didn't want to become part of their history," Giteau said.
"There was a bit of history behind that performance of ours and our intensity definitely was up a lot."
"But the biggest thing we have to do now is to maintain that level when we're not playing against other Australian sides, as we have done over the past two matches." he told the Australian.
With Quade Cooper having his best season to date with the Reds the match on the weekend the match had an extra edge and Giteau enjoyed easily his best game of the season, but he wasn't prepared to make a call on whether he had come out on top of Cooper, who has laid siege to his Test five-eighth position this year.
"I'll leave that to others to work out," Giteau said.
"It's how the overall team performs that determines how the five-eighth goes and the Brumbies went well, even if there are still things we can improve . . . as a side we all just did our roles this time."
The Brumbies kept their play off hopes alive with the victory and they are now sitting in sixth place on 32 points but as two of the top four teams (the Reds and Crusaders) lost on the weekend teams like the Brumbies have managed to catch up.
The Brumbies 32 points has them just two points behind the Crusaders on 34 points and one point behind the Waratahs in fifth place.
Provided the Brumbies don't underestimate the Highlanders this weekend they could get into the top four as the Crusaders face a tough test against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
If the Brumbies make it past the Highlanders they will meet their old nemesis, the Crusaders, in Christchurch in a final-round match to determine which one reaches the play-offs.
The Brumbies could also be timing their play off assault perfectly as they could be boosted on the weekend by Wallaby stars George Smith and Stirling Mortlock who have so far spent the bulk of their final season at the Brumbies on the sidelines.
Smith has been struggling with nerve damage in his shoulder and the Melbourne Rebels bound Mortlock has been troubled with a lower-back injury that is shooting neural pain down his legs.
Both players are however close to returning and would love to play what is likely to be their last game in Canberra this weekend.
"We'll just see how they come through this week but both are very keen to play," Brumbies coach Andy Friend said.
"It would be wonderful if Canberra could give them a send-off."
.jpg)
