The Brumbies have named an unchanged starting side Friday’s Super Rugby clash against the Blues having come through last week’s win over the Toyota Cheetahs unscathed.
On the bench JP Smith reclaims his spot as back-up prop with Allan Alaalatoa dropping out of the match-day 23.
Given the Blues strength up front and unpredictability in the backs, the game promises to be a massive battle which will test the Brumbies across the park.
Brumbies and Wallabies prop Scott Sio said his side would need to be on top its game to make and impact on Friday night.
“One of the points that came out of our meetings was that 6 of their 8 forwards are All Blacks. They have a wealth of experience and you can’t take that away from them,” Sio said.
“If you have a look at their games, they haven’t lost a game by more than 12 points all year. They’ve been in every match and we’re expecting them to really throw themselves into the game on Friday.”
The last time these 2 sides met at Super Rugby level was in April 2014 when the Brumbies managed to keep the Blues try-less to win 26 / 9. The 2 sides met again in Singapore for the World Club 10’s last year, the Blues getting 1 back to claim the Final 10 / 5.
Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Henry Speight, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Blake Enever, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore (Captain), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Ita Vaea, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Lausii Taliauli, 23. Nigel Ah Wong.
Date: Friday 10 April
Kick-Off: 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT)
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Andrew Lees
Assistant Referees: Nick Briant, Brendon Pickerill
TMO: Ben Skeen