Boom Brumbies rookie, Eli Langi headlines the ACT Brumbies side to take on the Queensland Reds in the inaugural Round of Super Rugby Next Gen on Sunday 8 February at Brumbies HQ, 2.15pm kick-off.<\/p>\n
Langi, who captained the U19s team last year, was this year elevated to the Brumbies main squad for 2026. the dynamic backrower injects valuable experience into the Next Gen team, after featuring in the Brumbies first Super Rugby Pacific trial against the Western Force.<\/p>\n
Head of Elite Pathways and Player Development, Dan Hawke has named a side brimming with talent, many of whom represented Australia at the 2025 under-20s Championship and the Brumbies under-19s team that surged to last year’s Grand Final.<\/p>\n
\u201cEli is an asset to this team. He\u2019s strong over the ball and carries with real intent into contact and is someone who always puts his best foot forward,\u201d said Hawke on the young forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re grateful for his inclusion for our first game and will look to use his skillset greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also featuring for the team is Chace Oates, who shone for the U19s at fly-half. Brother of Brumbies player, Kye Oates, Chace returns to steer the ship alongside halves partner Sam Watson.<\/p>\n
\u201cChace played phenomenally last season, not just in the U19s team, but also for Royals for most of the season. He\u2019s developed well in the fly-half role and we want to continue to support that growth this year,\u201d noted Hawke of the young playmaker.<\/p>\n
Upfront, the team features a hardened front-row in Nate Hepi, Ewald Kruger, and Lochlan Smith \u2014 the same trio who anchored the scrum last year.<\/p>\n
Billy Hansen and Jack Gordon join the trio to complete a powerful tight five, with Langi, Bailey Bouquiaux, and Cooper Eagle, who will captain the side, rounding out a mobile forward pack.<\/p>\n
Outside the halves pairing of Watson and Oates, Dylan Bretton lines up at inside centre with Riley Whitfeld his partner at outside centre.<\/p>\n
Utility back,Jacob Johnson starts on the left wing with Koko Salim supporting on the right, and Harvey McLean rounding out the side at full-back.<\/p>\n
Match Details\u00a0<\/p>\n
ACT Brumbies v Queensland Reds Round 1 – Super Rugby Next Gen\u00a0<\/p>\n
Date: Sunday 8 February Time: 2.15pm AEDT (2.15pm kick-off)<\/p>\n
Location: Brumbies HQ, University of Canberra<\/p>\n
Starting XV:<\/p>\n
Nate HepiEwald KrugerLochlan SmithBilly HansenJack GordonEli LangiBailey BouquiauxCooper Eagle (C)Sam WatsonChace OatesJacob JohnsonDylan BrettonRiley WhitfeldKoko SalimHarvey McLean<\/p>\n
Finishers: 16. Finn Baxter 17. Lipina Ata 18. Keegan Daly 19. Oliver Aylmer 20. Jarvis Orr 21. Chayse Geros 22. Will Trostel 23. Blake Miller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boom Brumbies rookie, Eli Langi headlines the ACT Brumbies side to take on the Queensland Reds in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[58864,64,63,760,85,194897],"class_list":["post-458873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-act-brumbies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-next-gen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}