With teams announced and finals now imminent, the ACT Brumbies will be making use of the extended turnaround as they finalise preparations for the Hurricanes arrival at GIO Stadium.
Corey Toole has been in flying form for the Brumbies in 2025, with nine tries across the season - on par with his running mate, Andy Muirhead.
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When the Hurricanes come to town, Toole admitted candidly to Rugby.com.au about the approach the Brumbies will take going into the clash.
"You try to treat it just like any other game... but obviously there's a highlighted pressure," the Brumbies' winger admitted.
"I think that's the key difference, the pressure.
"Every mistake, every opportunity is highlighted, everyone knows what's at stake.
"It's just capitalising on those and not letting it worry you too much if you make an error - because you're going to bounce back and you don't have much time in the game to take those opportunities."
The process-led approach has proven an effective method for Toole, having come close on several occasions to a maiden Wallabies berth - and recently signing an extension with the Canberra franchise to keep him in Australian rugby until at least 2026.
"I'm loving my time in Canberra," Toole admitted.
"[I have] some world-class players around me and world-class coaches, so it's quite easy just to do my job when you've got the likes of Len Ikitau inside you and Tom Wright with you as well.
"I think I can grow as a player quite well with those sort of guys around me.
"They put me in good spaces and whenever I need questions answered, they're always willing to help and I couldn't be in a better team to be part of."
With the Brumbies having an eight-day turnaround, extra time to focus on the Hurricanes has proven useful to manage the pressure of finals football, and allow for extra refinement of their own game style.
"Coming into training on Monday, we had a lot of energy to work on the errors and try to fix them and move on," Toole explained.
"It's an eight-day turnaround and the Hurricanes are a quality team.
"[We] own our errors and hold each other accountable. I think after a good win, we can get complacent sometimes.
"We've bounced back quite well throughout the year, but we need to be able to bounce back and then keep playing good footy - and don't let that foot off the throat.
"It was quite disappointing over the weekend [against the Crusaders], but hopefully we can bounce back in the qualifying final and keep getting wins."
