Brumbies hold onto Wallaby muscle
TRANSFER NEWS: Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa has extended his stay at the Brumbies for a further four years.
The tighthead prop will be wearing Brumbies colours until at least 2023.
The retention of the 24-year-old, who has appeared 59 times for the team since making his debut in 2014 against the Chiefs in Canberra, provides the Brumbies with a cornerstone of their pack for the next four Super Rugby campaigns.
“We are very excited to have Al commit to the club long-term,” Head Coach Dan McKellar commented. “Allan’s going into his sixth season at the Brumbies. When he arrived in 2013 he was a young prop with enormous potential. Now on the back of a lot of hard work he has reached that potential and has become a quality Tighthead Prop.
“He’s the cornerstone of our set-piece, but Allan’s game offers more than just good scrum, lineout and maul. His numbers each week with ball carry, tackles made, and breakdown involvements are consistently high and his work off the ball is outstanding.
“On and off the field Al is highly respected by all at the Brumbies and he has already shown strong leadership qualities. Without doubt, over the next few years, we will see Allan become an important leader of our club. We are delighted that he has committed to Brumbies until the end of 2023,”
Alaalatoa has been in fine form over the past few seasons, his quality at the set-piece and impact around the field noted by the national selectors, who catapulted him onto the international stage starting on the bench in the Bledisloe Cup fixture on 20 August 2016 against the All Blacks.
His importance to the Brumbies was evident in 2018 when the amiable prop started every game he was available for, missing only the Hurricanes match in late-June after returning from Australian duty with an ankle injury suffered in training for the Test Series with Ireland.
His physical and dominating presence at scrum time provided ballast for the Brumbies at the set-piece but was only one aspect of a multi-layered skill-set that shone throughout the campaign. That was no more evident than in the 45-21 win over the Reds at GIO Stadium in Round 8 when Alaalatoa’s all-round game, including some brutal hits in open-play, helped pave the way for a man of the match performance.
“I am very happy to have re-signed with the Brumbies up until 2023,” Alaalatoa commented on his contract extension.
“The Brumbies gave me my first opportunity to be involved in professional rugby, so to be able to commit to them long-term was something I’m grateful for and will never take for granted.
“The fans have also been very good to me and I appreciate their support and am looking forward to creating more memories with them with what is a strong squad pushing for a Super Rugby title,”
A firm crowd favourite and well-respected by his peers, Alaalatoa has become a mainstay of the Brumbies pack and was named Forward of the Year at the annual Brett Robinson Awards Night, the club’s Awards Evening, in consecutive years in 2017 and 2018.
Approaching thirty international caps, and still young for a member of the front row club, supporters can expect to see Allan marauding around fields both nationally and globally for a long time to come.
