Brumbies ready for the Reds rivalry that is driving Australian rugby

It's an understatement to say there's not much separating the Brumbies and the Queensland Reds in the top tier of Australian rugby.

In three meetings across the 2021 Super Rugby AU season, Queensland won all three matches — including the final — by an aggregate of just seven points.

It was a similar tale in 2020, but with the Brumbies holding the upper hand.

The Canberra side won by three points in the old Super Rugby tournament before it was suspended in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then by two points in the initial meeting in the revamped Super Rugby AU competition.

Queensland won 26-7 toward the end of that inaugural season before the Brumbies triumphed by three in the first final.

Head-to-head, the Reds have won four of the past seven clashes – but a total margin of just 36 points separates the two sides. That's a fraction over one try between them per game when they've met over the past two seasons. It's no wonder it's recognised by many as the biggest rivalry in Australian rugby at the moment.

«Oh, currently it is, yeah,» Brumbies coach Dan McKellar told ABC Sport this week.

«Waratahs games [and] Reds games are always special, and they're always tough. That's no disrespect to the Western Force or the Melbourne Rebels, either.

»The Brumbies were originally made up of misfits or rejects, or whatever they called them, from Queensland and New South Wales, as well as local boys. But in recent times, the encounters we've had... it's certainly a rivalry that's developed and it's really healthy for the game."

The rivalry goes back even further, with these two groups of players coming together in Canberra Vikings, Brisbane City, and Queensland Country games in the old National Rugby Championship (NRC).

A lot of them