News

Hand on the Brumbies deck

May 28 2008

The Brumbies have secured the signature of former Waratahs and Calvisano lock Ben Hand in a deal that will keep the him in Canberra for two years.

Hand spent the past season representing Calvisano in Italy's Super 10 competition having made his Super 14 debut for the Waratahs in 2007.

26-year-old, who was awarded the inaugural NSW A Forward of the Year Award in 2006, says he's looking forward to returning to Australia as part of the Brumbies.

"While I've really enjoyed my time overseas, it wasn't a tough decision to come home to join the Brumbies," he told the Brumbies website..

"I've always respected and enjoyed the way the Brumbies have played and I'm very pleased to be part of that next year.

"I see this as a fantastic opportunity to enhance my game in what is a world-renowned rugby program with an aim of playing regular Super 14 rugby over the next two years."

The former Kings School student represented the Australian Schoolboys in 2001 before joining the Waratahs Academy in 2004. Hand also captained the Western Sydney Rams to a semi-final berth in last year's Australian Rugby Championship (ARC).

Head Coach Laurie Fisher says Hand will be a valuable option for the Brumbies in 2009.

"Ben's had some experience at Super 14 level and he's certainly plied his trade industriously at club level, during the ARC and APC [Australian Provincial Championship] and overseas," he said.

"He's a mature player with good size and an accomplished line-out jumper, and he'll challenge guys like [Mark] Chisholm, [Peter] Kimlin and [Sitaleki] Timani for a starting position in 2009."

Brumbies Rugby CEO Andrew Fagan says Hand will give further depth to the Brumbies pack.

"Ben's captained NSW A and the Rams in the ARC, so on top of being a very consistent lock, he's a player with proven leadership qualities," he said.

"We're very excited to add Ben, Stephen Moore and Sitaleki Timani to our squad for 2009 and we believe they will contribute to what we believe will be one of the strongest forward packs in the competition."