ACT Brumbies flanker Scott Fardy has backed Blake Enever to turn his shoulder injury into motivation to spark the team in the second half of the season after the lock became the first casualty of the season.
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Enever had a scan on the SC joint in his shoulder on Saturday morning following a brutal contest against the NSW Waratahs on Friday night.
It is expected Enever will be sidelined for an extended period but the club is waiting for results before making a call on how long he will be out of action.
It was a devastating blow for Enever after coach Stephen Larkham injected him into the starting side in a second-row rotation with Rory Arnold.
"You can take the injury two ways. You can look at it as an opportunity to get your body in peak condition and look for the second half of the Super Rugby season and see what you can do there," Fardy said.
"Blake's a positive guy and very popular in the group, we'll get around him in that way. But he knows himself he can build something and we'll need him in the back end of the season."
The Brumbies escaped the 32-15 win at Canberra Stadium relatively unscathed, with Enever the major worry and bumps and bruises to several players.
Playmaker Matt Toomua was left bloodied and with a broken nose after he was punched by hooker Tolu Latu. Latu has been cited and faces a judiciary hearing this week.
Brumbies outside centre Tevita Kuridrani was cited for a high tackle on Kurtley Beale, but escaped with a warning from the citing commissioner.
The Waratahs limped back to Sydney, with Bryce Hegarty suffering a suspected ACL injury, Rob Horne battling a knee complaint and Tatafu Polota-Nau fracturing his wrist.
Injuries aside, the Brumbies' scrum appears to be going to a new level this year as they build formidable front-row depth.
Ben Alexander and Scott Sio were strong to start the game, and replacements Allan Alaalatoa and Les Leuluaialii-Makin marched over the top of the Waratahs pack in the second half.
The Brumbies won a penalty try from a scrum and trampled over the NSW forwards to push them back 15 metres at one set piece in the second half.
"Any time you get a good result out of your scrum as a tight forward, it's very pleasing," said Brumbies co-captain Stephen Moore.
"The guys that came on really lifted us again and that's been the case for a while. The depth in the front-row has been strong and anytime it works you're happy, but it's a week to week proposition."
Moore conceded the lineout was a bit sloppy, while Fardy attributed some disjointed lineouts to the noise of the crowd.
More than 20,000 fans packed into Canberra Stadium for the biggest crowd in almost a decade, with the club also donating $20,000 to the Domestic Violence Crisis Service as a result.
"We couldn't hear much out there, which was great. The transfer of call and things like that are details we can fix up," Fardy said.
"But when the crowd were as loud as they were, it was hard to hear yourself think. [The lineout] should be fine going forward. Hopefully we can get even more people out there when we're back in three weeks."
