ACT Brumbies to welcome club legend Christian Leali'ifano back to Canberra

The smile on Stephen Larkham's face stretches from ear to ear.

The former ACT Brumbies captain and club legend is coming to town and the excitement has already started to build.

It's difficult to overstate what Leali'ifano means to the franchise and the city of Canberra as a whole.

A flyhalf who played 150 games for the club and captained the Brumbies to significant success, he was the heart and soul of the team for 12 years and acted as a mentor for a generation of Polynesian teammates.

Lolesio arrived in Canberra at the twilight of Leali'ifano's time in the ACT and the veteran quickly took him under his wing.

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The pair are set to go toe to toe next Saturday night when the Brumbies face Moana Pasifika, Leali'ifano again mentoring a young side in its formative years.

The 35-year-old sat out his team's loss to the Force with a concussion but is expected to return to the field in Canberra.

"He was a good mentor my first year playing here," Lolesio said. "I've kept in contact with him throughout all of these years.

"It will be different seeing him play here for another team but I'll be looking forward to catching up with him after the game."

Leali'ifano's relationship with Larkham extends beyond rugby, the pair sharing a close personal connection.

The flyhalf was diagnosed with leukaemia shortly after the 2016 Super Rugby season. Larkham in his first stint as coach of the team at the time.

It was an emotional time as Leali'ifano battled the illness, however he served as an inspiration by defying the odds and returning to the field less than a year later.

Even though their careers took divergent paths, Larkham and Leali'ifano have remained in communication over the years.

The coach said he's yet to consider when he will meet up with his close friend, but is looking forward to catching up at some point over the next week.

"We've had a pretty strong connection," Larkham said. "We've been in contact the whole time while I was in Ireland, we were communicating every month at least. I don't know what we'll do next week yet, whether we'll catch up before the game or do something after the game but he's a pretty special part of the Brumbies organisation.

"He's doing a good job over there captaining the first two rounds, he's made himself an integral part of their team but prior to that he's through and through Brumbies so it's going to be a difficult week for him."

The Brumbies will enter next week's clash unbeaten, but searching for their best rugby.

Lolesio played a key role in helping the team defeat the Queensland Reds 23-17 in their first home game of the season on Saturday night, playing the full 80 minutes and steering the side around the park.

Ollie Sapsford suffered a cork in the match but is not expected to miss any time.

While thrilled with the win, Larkham was disappointed with aspects of the game.

Results over the past couple of weeks suggest no match is a fait accompli, with the Fijian Drua stunning the Crusaders on Saturday afternoon.

The Brumbies lost to Moana in Auckland last year and will be ready for another ambush next weekend.

"They pulled our pants down a bit over there at the end of the year, they're a bloody classy side," Nic White said. "Like you saw with the Drua, it's an amazing competition we've got at the moment. Anyone can beat anyone, so we've got to turn up.

"We'll have a look at them but we've also got to have a look at ourselves. We weren't happy with [Saturday night] and there's a lot we've got to fix."

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