Lucky 13th as Pocock lead Brumbies

David Pocock, the former Wallabies captain, is set to lead the Brumbies on Friday – when his side takes on Queensland Reds in the opening round of Super Rugby in Canberra.

Pocock becomes the 13th player to captain the Brumbies since the club's inception in 1996.

His elevation to the captaincy comes after the decision to start regular captain and hooker Stephen Moore on the replacement bench, as he continues his comeback after last year's knee reconstruction.

After performing strongly in the Brumbies two trial-matches, Pocock said he was looking forward to getting out on the paddock and representing the Brumbies after two disrupted years following consecutive season ending knee injuries.

"I feel pretty excited to get back out there. Having done a couple of full pre-seasons now, whilst I haven't played a lot, I've really enjoyed my time with the group," Pocock said.

"And as a group we're incredibly excited to actually start playing some games.

"It's pretty hard to gage where you're at in the trials. But we feel like we've done pretty good work off the field and we'll see how we go."

Friday's Super Rugby opener against the Reds will be just Pocock's sixth game for the Brumbies, after making his debut with the club in 2013.

However, coach Stephen Larkham said that his calmness and past experience as captain with the Wallabies and Western Force were reasons why he was chosen over the club's second vice-captain, Nic White.

"In the end it was a difficult decision, but Poey [Pocock] is definitely got some experience," Larkham said.

"He's got some calmness with the referee and he's playing some really good football.

"When they come together on the field, he's very calm.

"But you can see the way he's played the first two trial-matches he's back to his best.

"He's very dedicated to winning the game, he's very hard on the ball and he certainly does lead by example."

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