Brumbies have 'come a long way'
Brumbies hooker Stephen Moore has been astonished at the progress the team has made in the last two years.
The Canberra side lost the Super Rugby Final to the Chiefs in Hamilton, and despite the disappointment of defeat Moore pointed out how much they had achieved by getting there.
After languishing near the bottom of the log in 2011, the Brumbies turned things around under former Springbok coach Jake White and Moore said that the change in fortunes has been remarkable.
"We were really disappointed to lose that game but now that it is over we can reflect and this group has done some good things this year.
"If you had told me two years ago that I would be playing a final with the Brumbies I probably would have laughed at you.
"We have come a long way and we are gutted to lose this game but hopefully the majority of this group will stay together and we can give it a shake next year again," he said.
The Wallabies hooker said that the number of players in the national squad reflects the good work being done in Canberra.
"This time last year I think we had three guys in the Wallabies squad and now we have 12, and that is a testament to how hard everyone has worked and the organisation," he said.
After having travelled back from Pretoria where they beat the Bulls in their semifinal the Brumbies were up against it and their challenge faded in the final stages.
Moore said that coming so close to winning the competition made it that much more disappointing to go home empty handed.
"We played how we wanted to for about 50 odd minutes and then we let them back in and they capitalised on that.
"Before the game we spoke about that emotion that just being in the final was good enough and we wanted to avoid that.
He added that the Chiefs were worthy champions and compared their set-up to the Brumbies.
"New Zealand rugby is always in good shape, I have never seen it any other way to be honest. The Chiefs are back to back Super Rugby champions and I suppose in a lot of ways they are a similar team to us.
"Coming from a small town they probably don't have many superstars but they work very well together as a team and they know how they want to play," he said.
