Wayne Smith | March 13, 2009

Brumbies coach Andy Friend has some worrying news for the New South Wales Waratahs - Stirling Mortlock has been carrying on like a schoolboy on a diet of red cordial.

Most of the time, Mortlock conducts himself with all the decorum and dignity expected of an Australia captain. But former Wallabies coach John Connolly was always secretly delighted whenever his skipper started behaving excitedly in the days before an important Test.

The more boisterous Mortlock became, the more damaging Connolly knew he would be on the field.

Friend has made the same connection, which explained his relief when Mortlock returned to his misbehaving best before the Brumbies captain's run, letting loose his famous chimpanzee calls and literally monkeying around at every opportunity.

"He is definitely carrying on," Friend observed. "No one is safe."

Certainly not the Waratahs if Mortlock is able to funnel all of his irrepressible energy into his midfield running. Sadly he has not been able to do so for the Brumbies this season, at least not since he seized the opening match against the Highlanders by the scruff of the neck and almost single-handedly turned it around.

Since then, however, he has struggled to impose himself, despite playing in the 12 jersey where seemingly it should have been easier for him to get involved in the game.

Friend persevered with him there, believing it was only a matter of time before Mortlock felt as comfortable at inside centre as he always has at outside centre.

But when both the Crusaders and the Western Force were able to corral the Australian captain with surprising ease, the Brumbies coach bit the bullet and re-assigned positions.

Much as he hated to move Adam Ashley-Cooper from outside centre to the wing to accommodate Mortlock at 13, he realised that would provide the Brumbies with a better balanced backline.

"I still think Adam's best position is 13," said Friend. "But Stirling hasn't been on his job at 12. He is the key to us obviously and getting him on his game is very important."

The Waratahs coaching staff would not have been doing their jobs if they had not noted the success the Crusaders and Force enjoyed against the Brumbies using a rushing outside-in defence, and Friend fully expects NSW coach Chris Hickey will employ similar tactics again tonight in an attempt to shut down the ACT.

"The secret is not to go wide at every opportunity," he said. "That was our trouble, we were still attempting to get the ball wide in the face of that defence, getting belted and then entering a world of pain. We need to be smarter."

Smarter, of course, does not necessarily mean subtler. Certainly the introduction of Wallabies spring tourist Peter Kimlin to the Brumbies pack at blindside flanker suggests Friend is searching for direct hard runners who will give the ACT go-forward before the "go-wide" button is hit.

Once that button is hit, however, the Brumbies will want to shift the ball as fast as possible which has Hickey thinking that, for all the diversionary fanfare surrounding Mortlock's return to 13 and the introduction of Tyrone Smith at inside centre, the nub of the ACT tactical switch is the selection of the slick-passing Josh Holmes ahead of the more physical Patrick Phibbs at half-back.

"I thought the change at half-back was specific," Hickey said. "That was probably the most significant, the one that signals a change in their game."

The late withdrawal of tighthead Al Baxter from the Waratahs' front-row could tip the scrummaging battle in favour of the Brumbies who, for all their other failures, still scored a pushover penalty try against the Force.

But clearly the reshuffle in the Tahs second-row, with 204cm Chris Thomson coming in alongside Will Caldwell to allow Dean Mumm to move to his preferred blindside flanker position, appears to be the opening shot of a NSW lineout offensive.

So far this season the Brumbies have ridden the massive boot of full-back Mark Gerrard for easy yardage, but if the Tahs are able to squeeze them in the lineouts as the Reds felt last weekend, kicking for the touchline might not be such a smart option for the home side.

Until the loss to the Force, the Brumbies had lost only once to another Australian side since the start of Super rugby in 1996, to the Waratahs in 2005.

Friend is deliberately underplaying the local derby element, insisting his side is treating the Tahs as simply their next opponent. For all that, the Brumbies have always prided themselves on turning Canberra Stadium into their fortress, but their self-image could take a real battering if they lose two local derbies in succession.