Brumbies Multiculturalism

As Canberra celebrates its 100th Birthday, only one player from the ACT Brumbies can truly boast they’re a born and bred Canberran.

Veteran forward Peter Kimlin is the only player from the Brumbies 36 man squad to have been born in the Nation’s Capital. Robbie

Coleman and Colby Fiangaa narrowly missed out, being born in Queanbeyan.

Along with South African coach Jake White, the rest of the squad is fairly multicultural (birth wise) with 15 out of the 36 players born overseas.

When appointed Brumbies coach in 2011, White spoke openly that he wanted to bring some South African flavour into the squad and lived up to his word this year when he signed  5 players from his birth country.

Clyde Rathbone, former Brumby and Wallaby winger, was one of White’s main signings in the off-season, convincing the Durban born winger to make his comeback after overcoming depression after his retirement in 2009.

Rathbone was seen as a leader by White and someone who could nurture the other 4 young South Africans.

Ettienne Oosthuizen, Ruan Smith, Mark Swanepoel and Stephen Van Der Walt were all born in various parts of the Republic including Johannesburg, Vryburg and Kerksdorp.

View Brumbies Places of Birth in a larger map

There are four Kiwis on the team, this makes New Zealand the second most common overseas birth place. These players include superstar back Christian Lealiifano (Auckland), flying winger Joe Tomane (Palmerston), hard running forward Fotu Auelua (Wellington) and young flanker Jordan Smiler (Palmerston North).

Other countries include Fiji (2), Tonga (1) and Ireland (1), while two of the Brumbies and Wallabies most crucial forwards, David Pocock and Stephen Moore were born in the unlikely places of Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia.

As for the Australian born players, Sydney remains the main breeding ground for the side, with 6 players; Ben Alexander, George Smith, Scott Fardy, Pat Mccabe, Leon Power, Scott Sio and Andrew Smith having all been born in the harbour city.

View Brumbies Places of Birth (Australia) in a larger map

Brisbane is the birth place of Captain Ben Mowen and Wallabies bolter Jesse Mogg, while Melbourne includes the likes of young hooker Siliva Siliva and flyhalf Matt Toomua.

Other Australian birth places include Perth, the Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Scone, Shellharbour, Narromine and Quirindi.

Canberra’s close neighbor Queanbeyan, can boast a long list of athletes born in the town with Robbie Coleman and Colby Fiangaa joining the likes of Mark Webber, David Campese, Matt Giteau, Ricky Stuart and Brad Haddin.