Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nSunday also marks a massive milestone for Brumbies evergreen prop James Slipper, who will notch up his 200th Super Rugby cap, a number that puts him in rare company across the competition\u2019s 30-year history.<\/p>\n
It also moves Slipper to within striking distance of the all-time Super Rugby appearance record, sitting just three games shy of breaking Wyatt Crockett\u2019s mark of 202.<\/p>\n
Head Coach Stephen Larkham said the milestone is fitting recognition for a player who embodies professionalism and what it means to be a Brumby.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is one of the most respected players in Australian rugby, and reaching 200 Super Rugby games is a huge achievement,\u201d Larkham said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe continues to set the standard with how he prepares, how he trains, and how he competes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brumbies pack remains stacked and settled, with Slipper, Billy Pollard, and Rhys van Nek again forming the front row foundation.<\/p>\n
Lachie Shaw and Cadeyrn Neville continue their partnership in the engine room, while the back row is purpose built for the battle ahead, featuring Round 1 standout Charlie Cale alongside Rob Valetini and Rory Scott.<\/p>\n
The Brumbies will again be captained by Ryan Lonergan, steering the side from scrumhalf and partnering Declan Meredith in the halves after his two-try burst in the season opener.<\/p>\n
In the midfield, Kadin Pritchard continues at outside centre after an impressive start in Brumbies colours, linking with the powerful David Feliuai.<\/p>\n
Out wide, the Brumbies have strike power and speed to burn, with Corey Toole and Ollie Sapsford on the wings and Andy Muirhead again trusted at fullback.<\/p>\n
The bench remains unchanged too and it is built to hit hard late.<\/p>\n
Liam Bowron, Blake Schoupp, Tevita Alatini, Toby Macpherson, Luke Reimer, Klayton Thorn, Tane Edmed, and Hudson Creighton are again named among the finishers, ready to bring impact when the match needs them most.<\/p>\n
Larkham said the squad\u2019s depth will be crucial as the season stretches on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season is underway and we are confident, but we remain focused on improving and taking our performance to the next level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season can be a grind and we need to make sure our whole squad is fit and firing when it counts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Match Details \u2013 Round 2: Crusaders v ACT Brumbies\u00a0<\/p>\n
Date:\u00a0Sunday, 22 February 2026\u00a0Kick-off:\u00a01:35pm AEDT\u00a0Venue:\u00a0Apollo Projects Stadium\u00a0Broadcast:\u00a0Stan Sport\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ACT Brumbies are heading back into enemy territory and they are doing it with the exact same…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[58864,64,63,57265,760,85],"class_list":["post-487103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-act-brumbies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-james-slipper","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487103","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=487103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}