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international
ACT Brumbies scrum-half Ryan Lonergan was captain Barbarians against Northampton Saints a week before the Wallabies begin their 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign. A number of Australians were in the invitational 23 bench that day, including future Wallabies skipper on the bench.
Lonergan linked up with James O’Connor at half-time, while Hunter Paisami and Filippo Daugunu formed the central pairing. Lachlan Lonergan, Cadeyrn Neville, Lachlan Swinton and Seru Uru were in the attacks, with current Wallabies captain Harry Wilson among the replacements.
Tom Wright and Lachlan Anderson were joined in the All-Australian back three by Dylan Pietsch, who revealed on Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast how that Baa Baas tour inspired Lonergan to start wearing a finger band at every match.
“I actually know this pretty well,” Pietsch said, before explaining that then-Sunwolves halfback Kaito Shigeno used tape on his toes. Lonergan kept it for the game, and the Australian has continued to use it ever since.
“I’ve used a bit of duct tape on my fingers before, but it never worked that well,” Lonergan said Tuesday afternoon in Auckland.
“He gave me a box and said: ‘try it’ and I tried it and it was really good. Since then I just used it and every time I go to Japan Loading tape.
“It just happened that way. It was a little way for me to be able to put some adhesion technology on them and then it just stays in there and then I don’t have to reapply it.”
“I find that’s the way I can consistently pass in the game because it really sweats when guys are sweating all over the game or it’s raining or something.
“That’s the story behind it. It’s really nothing too flashy.”
Lonergan doesn’t use toe tape in training, instead wanting to “feel the ball” before a game. The No.9 has started in all eight Wallabies Tests so far this season, having also emerged as a goal-kicking option for the side.
Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson were the leading scorers in the opening game of July Nations Championship window, before Lonergan assumed those duties against Six Nations sides France and Italy.
Lonergan has kicked 26 conversions and four penalties in his last seven Test matches, including a 17-point haul against the Springboks in Perth. The 14-Test Wallaby has scored 65 points off tea this season, playing a key role in a six-match unbeaten run.
“At the start of Super Rugby I hadn’t kicked for a while and was probably just getting back into the swing of kicking,” Lonergan told reporters.
“As a backdrop to Super, I started to enjoy it a bit more.
“When I was younger I really loved kicking goals all the time and the last couple of years when I wasn’t kicking I came back. It was another thing I had to think about and I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I do now.
“Honestly, that’s kind of the only change. You just go through that confidence and it’s worked for me.”
