Brumbies duo Billy Pollard and Noah Lolesio learn skills to 'make or break' a game

Hooker Billy Pollard is back in the ACT Brumbies fold for a tour of Japan after a stint with European champions La Rochelle while Noah Lolesio is on Toulon's books during the World Cup window.

Lolesio's name could enter discussions as a replacement for injured Wallabies flyhalf Carter Gordon after he was ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a knee injury.

It may be a moot point with the Wallabies unlikely to progress out of the pool stages for the first time in World Cup history as Eddie Jones prays for a Portuguese miracle this week. Australia's quarter-final hopes depend on world No.16 Portugal - who have never won a World Cup match - beating Fiji by eight points or more on Monday morning.

While Test-capped duo Lolesio and Pollard missed selection in Australia's new-look World Cup squad, Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham jumped at an opportunity to develop two of the club's best prospects.

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Larkham is confident the benefits will be clear to see when Pollard and Lolesio return to Super Rugby - the former from a set piece perspective, and the latter with a better handle on how to control a game.

Now Larkham will leave the door open for chances to send players abroad for short stints as Australian rugby cries out for a third tier competition.

"We would definitely consider that, depending on the player, it's very individualised depending on which position, how developed is the player, what's his frame of mind going to be going into a new environment for a short period of time," Larkham said.

"We thought Noah and Billy could certainly benefit from the opportunity and the experience over there. Billy from a scrummaging perspective, and Noah from a game control perspective.

"A young up and coming five-eighth who has got a thirst for knowledge and learning gets himself immersed in a competition like that in a completely different team, he's going to bring a lot of that back with him now and be a better player for it."

The Brumbies have touched down and started training in Japan for a two-game tour.

Pollard is among three hookers in the Brumbies squad, which boasts a mix of established Super Rugby stars, fringe players and John I Dent Cup prospects.

The Brumbies face Tokyo Sungoliath at the Sapporo Dome on October 7 before closing out the tour against Black Rams Tokyo at Ricoh Fields a week later.

Larkham will try to cycle through each of his 28 players during both games, with preference given to the established Super Rugby players - giving Pollard a perfect opportunity to show what he learnt at La Rochelle.

"[It was a] challenging environment, very heavy scrum, maul, set piece focus over there in the French competition from what he has told us," Larkham said.

"He loved every opportunity he had over there to train, play and learn from the coaches over there. He's in a really good frame of mind, he's been back at training for a week with us and he's in a really good frame of mind and he's keen to get some footy in a Brumbies jersey again.

"In one of the games he was player of the match. He had a good performance. He's an outstanding rugby player, there's no doubt about that.

"What he learnt over there is the importance of set piece. It can make or break a game, it can change momentum. They spend a lot of time over there in that so that was a real learning for him."

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