MELBOURNE, April 21 (Reuters) - ACT Brumbies fullback Tom Wright says he is ready to test out his reconstructed knee for a full 80 minutes as the Canberra side looks to complete an unprecedented sweep of New Zealand's original Super Rugby teams against the Wellington Hurricanes.
Nearly eight months on from suffering an ACL injury in a test against South Africa, Wright returned to action last Saturday in a home defeat to Fijian Drua before being benched after the hour-mark at Canberra Stadium.
The fleet-footed Wallaby found it tough watching the dying minutes from the sideline as the Brumbies fell to their fourth loss of the season, and called on coach Stephen Larkham to leave him on the field for Saturday's clash against the Hurricanes.
"Now that it has sort of happened, I might nudge him and just tell him to leave me out there," Wright told reporters on Tuesday.
"Whether it's for the betterment of my game fitness or not, I prefer to play the whole game on a week-to-week basis."
The Brumbies are unbeaten against New Zealand opponents this season and can become the first Australian team to take down the nation's five provincial sides in a regular season of Super Rugby if they beat the Hurricanes at the new Te Kaha stadium in Christchurch.
Wright said the shot at history was not really a feature of discussions in the Brumbies camp, though, and they were more focused on rebounding from the Drua upset.
"When it gets asked externally, it's almost like, 'Oh really?'" he said of the sweep bid.
"Because on a week-to-week basis the last thing we're trying to do is tick off so-and-so in the Aussie conference and the New Zealand conference."
He said the team's successful trips to New Zealand to beat the Canterbury Crusaders and Otago Highlanders put them in good stead for a big test against the second-placed Hurricanes, who have racked up an extraordinary 50 tries in eight matches.
"It's been really exciting for us to go away to some of these challenging destinations and play well," he said.
"So again this week, there's another opportunity to do that."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
