White line fever: ACT Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White wants Canberra to share in Super Rugby success

We're doing well. We are Super Rugby AU's reigning champions and we have made an unbeaten start to the new season.

We want to continue that success when we meet the Melbourne Rebels at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night. They have a groomsmen from my wedding in Matt To'omua calling the shots, but we've got you.

Our success is not just for the guys who pull on the Brumbies jersey every week. It's not just for our front office, our backroom staff, our 84-year-old volunteer Quinzo.

It's for Canberra. We want you to come out and share it with us. Realistically that success is not going to be here forever. We might be Australia's most successful rugby union club, but that doesn't mean we've been playing in grand finals every year. I was here when we came 13^th 10 years ago. Put simply, it was bloody tough.

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Let's not take this success for granted. That success is really hard to come by. We've got it right now so come out and share it with us. We want to share it with everybody.

We had 9322 at Canberra Stadium for our win over the NSW Waratahs last week. That was our biggest crowd in 12 months and it felt like the tide was beginning to turn.

The roar of the crowd is enough to give you chills every time Tom Banks kicks to the corner. Our fans know what we're about, and we're not going to hide it.

But I yearn for another night like the time we beat the Waratahs in 2013. We had 20,027 there to see George Smith's almighty hit on Israel Folau. The crowd just went berserk. It honestly rattled my bones, the hit and the crowd.

A grand final win eluded us until COVID-19 changed the landscape last year. Sixteen years was a long time between drinks. There was a reason I said I wouldn't take my jersey off until I got on the bus to Wallabies camp two days later.

Now we have a chance to do it all again, and we want you to be a part of it. At times when Super Rugby was the way it was, we'd play a game at home and build momentum, and then we might be off to play in South Africa or Argentina or New Zealand, and it would be five or six weeks before we were back. People would have to get up at 3am to watch sometimes, it was hard.

Now we've got this all-Australian competition. Tribalism is back. We're 17 from 18 at home, we're playing a good brand of rugby. We've got a squad littered with Wallabies caps. This is as good as it gets.

It seems like the stars are aligning to get people back following us, to get bums on seats and create the atmosphere that was there and we know that can be there.

SUPER RUGBY AU ROUND THREE

Saturday: ACT Brumbies v Melbourne Rebels at Canberra Stadium, 7.45pm. Broadcast: Live on Gem and Stan Sport. Tickets from Ticketek.

ACT Brumbies squad: 1. Scott Sio, 2. Connal McInerney, 3. Allan Alaalatoa (c), 4. Darcy Swain, 5. Cadeyrn Neville, 6. Rob Valetini, 7. Jahrome Brown, 8. Pete Samu, 9. Nic White, 10. Noah Lolesio, 11. Mack Hansen, 12. Irae Simone, 13. Len Ikitau, 14. Andy Muirhead, 15. Tom Banks. Replacements: 16. Lachlan Lonergan, 17. Harry Lloyd, 18. Tom Ross, 19. James Tucker, 20. Tom Cusack, 21. Ryan Lonergan, 22. Reesjan Pasitoa, 23. Solomone Kata.

Melbourne Rebels squad: 1. Cabous Eloff, 2. James Hanson, 3. Pone Fa'amausili, 4. Ross Haylett-Petty, 5. Trevor Hosea, 6. Joshua Kemeny, 7. Richard Hardwick, 8. Michael Wells, 9. Joe Powell, 10. Matt To'omua, 11. Marika Koroibete, 12. Reece Hodge, 13. Stacey Ili, 14. Lachlan Anderson, 15. Tom Pincus. Replacements: 16. Ed Craig, 17. Isaac Aedo Kailea, 18. Lucio Sordoni, 19. Steve Cummins, 20. Robert Leota, 21. James Tuttle/Brad Wilkin/Tom Nowlan (TBC), 22. Frank Lomani, 23. Glen Vaihu.

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