Brumbies to say goodbye to four Wallabies
NEWS: There’ll be some new faces at the Brumbies next Super Rugby Pacific season, with four key cogs to depart at the end of this campaign.
The team confirmed gun fullback Tom Banks and long-tenured prop Scott Sio along with centre Irae Simone and hooker Folau Fainga’a will be heading off after the play-offs, which will kick off for the Brumbies on Saturday against the Hurricanes.
All four boast Wallabies experience with a combined 114 Test caps, while they leave 344 games of Brumbies experience behind.
It adds to what will be a big transitional period for the team, with coach Dan McKellar also departing to pick up a full-time role with the Wallabies.
Banks, who’s scored 35 tries for the Brumbies, is expected to pick up a Japanese deal worth around AUS$1.4 million a year, while Fainga’a is rumoured to be joining the Western Force.
Simone has been linked with a move to France.
But it’s Sio who leaves behind the biggest legacy, having spent 11 seasons with the team in becoming one of just four Brumbies to play more than 140 games.
🐴//🙌🏽 More memories to make still, but at the end of 2022 we say goodbye to four special members of the Brumbies Family.
Saturday likely to be this group’s last home game, so get out to GIO to help lift them into the Semi Finals!! pic.twitter.com/5DTKZQiWvh
ADVERTISEMENT— Brumbies (@BrumbiesRugby) May 31, 2022
“It has been a privilege to have Scott as part of the organisation and to see him develop into a leader amongst the group from his time in the Academy to becoming a Wallaby and a world-class prop … he will definitely go down as one of the special players in the history of the Brumbies,” chief executive Phil Thomson said.
“Scott, Tom, Folau and Irae have all left a lasting impression in their time at the Brumbies, all playing more than 50 games for the club and we thank each of them for their commitment and contribution to the team both on and off the field.
“The team and the entire organisation are focused on finishing this season together on a high, starting with Saturday’s quarter-final against the Hurricanes.”
