The cow jersey that had Brumbies players 'mooing' to start heritage week

It's a sunny Monday afternoon at St Edmund's College and ACT Brumbies players are starting to gather for a signing session and then training. All of a sudden the players, sitting in a circle, start mooing in unison.

Why? Because they're wearing a '90s heritage jersey with a cow pattern to reinforce the importance of the week to a generation of players who either don't remember the glory years, or weren't even born.

"The cow patches suit some better than others," grins lock Cadeyrn Neville.

Have the younger players seen the 2004 final, which the Brumbies won against the Crusaders?

"Not a single thing," laughs Rhys van Nek. "I'm sure [coach Stephen Larkham] will bring it up this week, which would be good because there's a fair few of us who were five, six, or seven years old back then."

If they search on YouTube (see above), they'll find the clips of George Smith's dazzling play, Radike Samo's one-handed passes, Joe Roff's history-making try and Mark Gerard doing Mark Gerard things to score a hat-trick.

The return of the cow jersey is the Brumbies' way of reaching out to old fans who - for whatever reason - have disengaged with the club and rugby over the past 20 years.

The message this week is clear: the Brumbies want people back. They'll gather old heads from that championship side in 2004, they'll wear old-school jerseys and they've got a day-time kick-off to avoid a chilly autumn evening.

They won't get anywhere near the 28,753 who watched the grand final and created an electric atmosphere during a time before iPhones, streaming services and electric cars. But they do hope connecting with the past will encourage fans back, even if they've been lost to the game recently.

"It's good to remember those legendary times," Neville said. "Fortunately the club has been able to put a few of those great moments together in a short history, so we're lucky in that regard.

"We'd love to see as many people get to the game as possible [this weekend]. I think our performances probably warrant the support of anyone who's interested in it. I know there's a lot of different factors at play, but we'll do whatever it takes to get people through the turnstiles."

Neville is one of only a few current Brumbies to have ever tasted success against the Crusaders - the most successful team in the competition's history. But no one in the squad - except for Larkham - have ever beaten the Crusaders as a Brumby.

If ever there was a chance to end the club's 15-year drought against the team from Christchurch, it's now. The Crusaders are having their worst season in history and have won just two games this season.

The Brumbies, in contrast, are third on the ladder and are desperate to win to keep alive their hopes of sneaking into the top two before the end of the regular season.

"I don't think anyone's ever taken them lightly in their existence and this week won't be an exception," Neville said.

"You can hit a banana skin at this time of year, all of these points are pretty critical to your position on the table. There's still a good chance of us [to get into the top two] with the three best New Zealand teams all playing against each other. Anything can happen, but you need to make sure of our job as well."

James Slipper, Corey Toole and Billy Pollard could come back into selection contention this week, but boom back-rower Charlie Cale has been ruled out.

Prop van Nek, who was born in 1999, says history won't be lost on the younger generation, but they've firmly got their sights on the overall prize at the end of this season.

"[Laurie Fisher] always said 'know your job, do your job'," van Nek said. "That's what the Brumbies system is - it doesn't matter who you've got. If you don't know your job, you can't do it. That's what the Brumbies have always been about.

"Our focus is on the Crusaders and what our game plan is going to be. Everyone knows what they're going to bring ... so many different X-factor players, but we focus on us and that's what wins our games."