Depth is the crucial for the Brumbies this weekend and it’s a challenge winger Nigel Ah Wong knows better than most.
Ah Wong has stepped up in the absence of injured winger Joe Tomane this season and with the sad confirmation that a broken leg would end Tomane’s Brumbies tenure, the former Queensland Reds is going to have to play that role at least one more time.
The speedster, who has also filled in at flanker for parts of the year, said his combination with rooke James Dargaville has flourished and that consistency would hopefully boost them in a must-win final round clash against the Force.
“Obviously it's a big loss, losing a player like Joe,” he said.
“I guess it does potentially open up an opportunity for me and I'll just be looking to perform well at training and hopefully get the nod for Saturday night.
“It does help that we've played a handful of games there leading into this week and also we’ve got a lot of senior players still around like Christian (Lealiifano) and Matty Toomua so they're doing an awesome job helping us out.
“It's also a very important game for the whole team.
“We're not looking too far ahead of Saturday night but our season's on the line here and all our focus is on Saturday night, 7:30.”
Ah Wong said Tomane was remaining relatively positive despite the blow.
“Joe's the kind of person that he does keep his spirits up and he has a lot of faith in himself to recover quickly and also a lot of faith in the boys to get the job done,” he said.
Ah Wong is yet to officially announce his Super Rugby future, though he has been announced as a Suntory Sungoliath recruit for the 2016-17 Japanese Top League season, but on Tuesday said he wanted to stay in Canberra.
“This is obviously a very good club and I get along with the staff and all the players here and it's somewhere I'd like to spend a lot of my future.”
