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Brumbies aren't ready to farewell stars

The Brumbies don't want Saturday's final regular-season Super Rugby match against the Western Force to be the last for a host of departing stars.

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Source: AAP


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One of their stars has already played his last game, but the Brumbies are intent on ensuring Saturday's all-important Super Rugby clash with the Western Force isn't a farewell for a host of other big names.

Winger Joe Tomane on Monday confirmed his time at the ACT franchise is up after fracturing his leg while playing club rugby on Saturday.

It was his first game back after a near three-month injury layoff and now heads to France to play for Montpellier.

He is among a number of Wallabies leaving at season's end, with skipper Stephen Moore returning to the Queensland Reds, Matt Toomua joining English outfit Leicester and David Pocock taking a 12-month sabbatical.

The Brumbies sit atop the Australian conference heading into their final match of the regular season, against the lowly Force at GIO Stadium.

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They will all but secure the country's sole guaranteed finals berth, unless the NSW Waratahs score a bonus-point win over the Blues in Auckland on Friday.

"Hopefully it's not our last game," back-rower Jarrad Butler said on Monday.

"Regardless, we really want to put a really good, strong back end of the season for those guys and really send them off the way they should be."

Wallabies prop Scott Sio said the best way to do that was to win the championship.

"It's not really something that we've highlighted, but it's in the back of our minds," he said.

Scott Fardy remains in doubt for the Force match after injuring his shoulder in last Friday's 40-15 thumping by the Blues, as is fellow back-rower Jordan Smiler who is coming back from a knee injury.

Pocock is still sidelined with a fractured eye socket.

Sio said there was nothing the Brumbies couldn't fix from their loss to New Zealand's bottom-ranked team, and sees this week's match as a second chance.

"It's definitely something we're not going to waste," he added.

"The Force are a quality side, they've shown they can pull off some good wins this year as well, so if we don't turn up it could be the end of it for us."


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