2017-05-08 21:28

Cape Town – Brumbies second-row Blake Enever has praised head coach Stephen Larkham’s decision to give the team time off ahead of facing the Lions.

The franchise from Canberra were on a bye last weekend and were allowed a spell away from the training ground to keep them fresh mentally.

That call has been applauded by lock Enever.

“A few of the boys were able to get away for a couple of days,” he told the Brumbies website.  

“We trained last Tuesday and then we were told to get away from it. We had a good day on Sunday as well coming back. It’s important to get your head away from rugby, it freshens you up and makes you even more keen to get on with the job when you come back.”

Friday’s fixture at home against the Lions is crucial for the Brumbies as they enter on the back of a three-game losing streak.

However, they do still remain top of the Australian Conference and Enever is targeting a physical performance against the South African pace-setters.

“You have to match them with aggression, they’re a big, big team that love running the ball so we have to get up in defence and try to slow them down,” he said.

“They’ve got good backs and forwards that play exciting rugby. We’ve had that bye so hopefully we can put on a good performance.

“They’ve shown that they can score tries but I think we’re pretty structurally good in defence. We just have to keep backing ourselves and try and cut off their options.”