Fully sick Brumby Bayley Kuenzle avoids coronavirus but beats swine flu, mumps and gastro

The budding ACT Brumby has already contracted and recovered from the swine flu (in 2009). Then gastro during a junior Wallabies camp (in 2018). And then mumps after his first two games of Super Rugby (this year). So if anyone at Brumbies headquarters is going to get coronavirus, Kuenzle would have to be at the top of the list.

"I've had everything," Kuenzle grinned on Friday. "[Teammates] have been like, 'you're going to be the first one to get COVID-19.

"But we've made some changes here at HQ. We got a teaser with mumps and we've all worked hard on our hygiene so we were all ready when COVID hit. It's important we stick to that, even when all of this finishes."

It's been a wild ride so far for a 21-year-old, who the Brumbies have been taking a patient approach before throwing him into the professional cauldron.

He spent last year developing in Sydney's club rugby competition before getting his chance on the bench in the opening rounds of the 2020 season.

But just when it looked as though he was about to take off, the mumps swept through the squad and what was a mystery illness at the time stopped Kuenzle in his tracks.

"[The mumps] were terrible. The worst week of my life," Kuenzle said. "I couldn't do anything. I was sick the first night and felt like I had the flu and then my cheeks just widened up. I looked like a chipmunk ... I couldn't go shopping for a week. It was horrific.

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"It was just one of those things. I remember in the under-20s I got gastro in the Oceania championships and I didn't get a game. Then I got mumps this year ... just another thing gone wrong. That's the way it goes."

In between all of that Kuenzle has started to find his feet in Super Rugby. He came off the bench against Melbourne Rebels, the Waikato Chiefs and the NSW Waratahs, looking at home in all of them.

To make sure he keeps up his development, coach Dan McKellar set Kuenzle and Reesjan Pasitoa the task of watching video of Canterbury Crusaders champion Richie Mo'unga during the training isolation period.

The main message out of the videos: back yourself. McKellar has been pushing that fear-free mentality on all of his players, but especially the young ones thrust into pressure situations.

"We've got a catch up with [McKellar] next week to talk about [Mo'unga's] game and looking at what we can do," Kuenzle said.

"He's the type of player who plays what's in front of him. He doesn't care if he makes a mistake, he just backs himself in any situation and his skills are top notch.

"... Dan has been enforcing us to play what's in front. We've got the structure if we need it, but we can just play footy. We're there to have fun. That's his philosophy and from Peter Hewat as well."

Kuenzle, Noah Lolesio and Reesjan Pasitoa are competing for the Brumbies' flyhalf role. Lolesio got first crack and has impressed, winning the No. 10 jersey for the first six games of the year before the season stopped.

Kuenzle has earned his caps from the bench, but is pushing Lolesio for the starting role while Pasitoa is being eased into action.

The Brumbies returned to training this week to start their preparations for a potential Super Rugby domestic restart on the first weekend in July. "It feels weird, like a massive pre-season. Keen to get back into it," Kuenzle said.