White: It's work, work and more work

Brumbies coach Jake White has put his teams success this season down to some old school hard work and a tight-knit group of players.

The Canberra side finished 13th last season and with very few high profile players White arrived and build a solid foundation based on discipline and some tough training sessions.

The South African World Cup-winning coach explained that the team's success is down to putting in the hours and having a team rather than a bunch of individual stars.

"We just went back to the things that worked for the Brumbies," White told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"As an outsider when I was living in South Africa, the one thing we all envied was how close the Brumbies were. The legendary stories that they lived together in Kingston, they eat together in the same coffee shop.

"Now we don't eat at Kingston, we eat in our own clubhouse but the reality is ... we live together, we literally get to work at seven in the morning, we leave at six in the evening.

"It's a long day for everybody ... but at any successful team, if you're talking rugby at breakfast and you're talking rugby at lunch and working out plays, then you get a reward."

A victory over the Blues next week will secure the Brumbies top spot in the Australian conference and give the team guaranteed place in the semifinals.