Publications
Partners
Canberra - Brumbies skipper Sam Carter has paid tribute to coach Stephen Larkham following their 35-16 quarter-final defeat at the hands of the Hurricanes.
Larkham is leaving his post as Brumbies head coach to join the Wallabies as full-time assistant coach.
After the game, Larkham said the result was too fresh to properly reflect on his incredible legacy at the club as both player and coach.
But his skipper Carter summed things up succinctly.
“Half the stadium is named after him so it’s a pretty good legacy,” Carter told Fox Sports Australia.
“Bernie’s been here the whole time I’ve been here and has
been massive for my development.
“I know he’s very close with Christian, he’s brought him a long way and the whole squad, the organisation has been part of his whole life.
“I don’t actually know what he’s going to do when he leaves.
“I’ve got nothing but praise for what Bernie’s done.
“It’s a very organic club and what we’ve achieved this year - although it’s disappointing tonight - has been far more than what we set out at the start.”
Meanwhile, Larkham has reflected on Christian Lealifano's unbelievable return to the pitch less than a year since being diagnosed with leukaemia.
“It was pretty emotional to see him in the changing rooms, take his bib off and get ready to go out on the field and I thought he played particularly well,” Larkham said.
“He had a number of nice touches, a couple of good carries, a couple of good kicks and hopefully we’re going to see a lot more of him next year.”
Larkham went on to say said his side dominated the Hurricanes in the first half but were unlucky to go into the half-time break with only a one-point lead. Larkham cited Jordie Barrett's fortuitous try, two Wharenui Hawera penalties hitting the post and the collapsing of a Brumbies maul over the visitors' try-line that went unpunished by referee Glen Jackson.
“Does that change things (in terms of the result), I don’t know,” Larkham wondered out loud.
“We were written off at the start of the year, they said we were going to come fourth in the Australian conference but we achieved a few things this year.”
