There are Wallabies. Super Rugby stars. Some of Canberra’s best club players.
And then there’s a team manager.
The ACT Brumbies have named a 25-man squad to open their Swyftx Super Rugby AUS campaign against the NSW Waratahs at Bungendore Sports Hub on Sunday, with a host of players set to make their Brumbies debuts — including current Assistant Team Manager Josh Townsend.
His day job is the Brumbies’ Assistant Team Manager, but this weekend he’ll trade the kit room for the team sheet, with the man affectionately known as ‘Towny’ named to start at lock against the Waratahs.
A local rugby stalwart with Queanbeyan Whites, the 33-year-old has spent years making sure the Brumbies are ready to take the field. Now, he’ll finally get the chance to pull on the jersey himself.
It’s a rugby fairytale — and exactly the kind of opportunity Super Rugby AUS was created to provide.
Townsend is one of ten Brumbies debutants named in a new-look side, with Australian Under-20 standouts Eli Langi, TJ Talaileva and Ewald Kruger, Canberra club rugby products Darcy Fogarty, Dylan Bretton, Oscar Cleary, Oscar Shaw, Tu’ukalikali Vaipulu, and Finn Baxter, son of former Waratahs and Wallabies front-rower Al Baxter, all set to make their Brumbies debuts.
There is a strong local connection too, with Brumbies and Bungendore product Liam Bowron named to start as the Brumbies take elite rugby to the country.
But while the setting is new, the rivalry is anything but.
The Brumbies and Waratahs will reignite one of Australian rugby’s fiercest rivalries in the country, with the Super Rugby AUS competition doing little to dampen the edge between two sides that have spent more than three decades trading blows.
For the Brumbies, it is a chance to open a new competition by writing another chapter in an old rivalry — this time in front of a country crowd.
Toby Macpherson will captain the Brumbies for the first time, taking the reins after a breakthrough 2026 season.
Up front, the Brumbies have a blend of experience and new blood. Lington Ieli takes the loosehead jersey after returning from representing the First Nations and Pasifika XV, partnering Rhys van Nek, with Bowron at hooker. In the row, Townsend caps his extraordinary promotion alongside Macpherson. Larkham has opted for a young, fiery back row of Langi and Talaileva on the flanks, with Cleary at No.8.
Behind them, the Brumbies unleash an all-Super Rugby backline. Klayton Thorn and Tane Edmed will take their partnership into the starting halves, while Corey Toole brings Wallabies and Super Rugby experience to a backline featuring David Feliuai, Kadin Pritchard and Ollie Sapsford. There is a fresh face at the back too, with former Waratahs back Triston Reilly set to make his Brumbies debut against his old club.
The extended 10-player bench provides plenty of opportunity to turn the game, with Australian Under-20 standout Kruger and young prop Baxter joining recent signing Darcy Breen among the finishers. Fogarty and Vaipulu offer forwards cover after standout John I Dent Cup campaigns with Royals, while MacDougall Medallist Shaw, Dan Nelson, Dylan Bretton and Jarrah McLeod round out an exciting bench. There is one player to be added to the extended bench.
The Brumbies will face the Waratahs at Bungendore Sports Hub on Sunday, 13 September, with kick-off at 2:00pm AEST.
- Swyftx Super Rugby AUS – Round One
- Sunday, 13 September 2026
- Bungendore Sports Hub
- Kick-off: 2:00pm AEST
