The ACT Brumbies could target another overseas tour to lay the platform for their next Super Rugby title raid as they enter the competition's final week wondering what might have been.
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Because that Super Rugby Pacific decider could have been in Canberra after all - if not for a 20-minute blitz that saw the Brumbies outmatched in a semi-final in Auckland.
Instead the Auckland Blues will chase their first full Super Rugby championship in 21 years when they host the Waikato Chiefs at Eden Park on Saturday night, while a host of Brumbies players will continue training in the hope of earning a Wallabies call-up from Joe Schmidt.
Schmidt has cast a wide net and asked a number of Australian players to continue training as he prepares to finalise his squad for looming Tests against Wales and Georgia before the Wallabies launch into the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup.
Those not in the mix for a gold jersey could be set for an overseas sojourn with the Brumbies, who could look to replicate last season's two-game tour of Japan in a bid to provide players with more elite level opportunities.
The Brumbies played games against Tokyo Sungoliath and Black Rams Tokyo in October last year, and the Blams Rams are now sending five players to the Gungahlin Eagles to bolster their bid for consecutive John I Dent Cup triumphs.
The prospect of more games during the off-season adds an extra incentive for club rugby players to shine in the John I Dent Cup as they look to press their claims for future opportunities with the Brumbies.
![Brumbies prop Rhys van Nek was left shattered by a semi-final defeat. Picture by Keegan Carroll Brumbies prop Rhys van Nek was left shattered by a semi-final defeat. Picture by Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/096415f4-ce54-40ea-9569-d3e0d142459b.jpg/r0_241_4706_2897_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Prop Rhys van Nek hopes off-season fixtures can be locked in as the ACT again set their sights on breaking Australia's Super Rugby title drought, which is poised to enter an 11th year.
"There's lots of lessons this year in our wins and our losses. For me, the biggest one is you can't win games without physicality," van Nek said.
"It's definitely something we push in pre-season and make sure we're consistent with that. We'll have meetings and stuff on Monday. Guys will go off to the Wallabies, Australia A, hopefully we'll have something in October.
"We have six months now until the next Super Rugby game so we've just got to come together with the squad next year and take it forward.
"This is the third year in a row we've got to the semis, we're just there, we're edging that. We just need to keep getting better and growing as a group, because we're just there."
The Brumbies could have brought the decider to Canberra Stadium had the competition's top-two sides both lost their respective semi-finals. While the Chiefs held up their end of the bargain by beating the top-ranked Hurricanes in Wellington, the ACT could not.
Twenty-four-year-old van Nek was thrust into the centre of the action sooner than he had anticipated after veteran loosehead James Slipper succumbed to a calf injury in the warm-up moments out from the start of the semi-final.
Slipper had been named to return from a two-week stint on the sidelines before aggravating the injury, opening the door for van Nek to move into the starting XV with Harry Vella brought onto the bench.
"You don't ever think someone is going to go down in the warm-up, but you've just got to deal with it," van Nek said.
"I've still got a job to do, nothing in my role changed. It was just 'Nekky, you're starting now', and that was it. I had to focus on doing my job and I thought I did it well, we just couldn't come away with it."
The Brumbies had no answer for the Blues in the opening exchanges, with the Auckland outfit now entering the decider as favourites having gone undefeated on home turf so far this season.
"That first 20 minutes killed us. We didn't front up physically, and they capitalised on that. We had plenty of opportunities we should have taken. If we could run it back, that would be ideal to take those," van Nek said.
"The first 20 minutes, the physicality was our biggest issue. It's definitely something we'll remember and take into next year.
"It's not ideal. Obviously we wanted to go again for another week. It's a bit weird. You obviously never plan for a loss, especially in a semi-final. A few of the boys are leaving so we're not going to be with this group again.
"I've been here for two years and feel so much a part of the group. Seeing those guys that are leaving and heading off, it'll be good to remember the things we've gone through with them."
Meanwhile, Brumbies Super Rugby Women's coach Scott Fava is bound for rugby league, joining the Parramatta Eels as the club's NSW women's premiership coach for the 2024 season.
Fava will work with Parramatta NRLW coach Steve Georgallis, with a focus on developing the next generation of Eels stars in what will effectively run as a reserve grade competition this year.