Alister Campbell

Lock Alister Campbell will captain the CA Brumbies in their first pre-season trial match against the Waratahs at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford on Friday night. The CA Brumbies have named three Wallabies, including Campbell, in the squad as well as a number of outstanding young CA Brumbies players and members of the Brumbies Academy. Brumby Jack caught up with Campbell ahead of Friday night’s match.

Brumby Jack: How are you feeling ahead of the CA Brumbies’ trial against the Waratahs on Friday night?
Alister Campbell: We’re really looking forward to it as a squad and I’m really looking forward to it personally. You get to the point where you’ve done 10 or 12 weeks of pre-season training and you just want the season to start. There’s a bit of excitement in the squad and there’s a lot of young guys with plenty of potential and hopefully we can show that on Friday night.

BJ: Laurie Fisher has named a relatively young side. What can we expect from them?
AC: We’ll be playing a very simple game plan and running a limited number of plays. With the limited experience we’ve got out there, we’ve got a focus on doing the basics well in terms of support lines, catch-pass, clean outs, quality set piece with limited calls. We’ve really worked on the fundamentals and we’ll be watching those areas closely and the detail and additional structure will come over the next fortnight leading into the next game. But we’ve got some young guys with plenty of talent and plenty of speed and they’ve got plenty to offer.

BJ: The Waratahs have named nine Wallabies in their side. What are you expecting from them?
AC: They’ve named a very experienced side and it’s going to be pretty tough. But we’re just focusing on ourselves and not being too concerned with what they’re doing out there. It’ll be very physical and it will be a very demanding game but we’ll look to carry out our game plan and do the simple things well.

BJ: Being a young side, what challenges does that present to you as captain?
AC: There will naturally be a few nerves out there from the young guys so it’s a matter of managing that and look at how guys are going on the field and making sure communication’s up. If we’ve got communication then that’s a huge step forward in our performance. It’s also a matter of making sure that if there’s a mistake – and there will be a few – it’s all about moving on and being able to put it behind you mentally and not let it drag you down for the rest of the game.