The Brumbies are on the first leg of their Southern Hemisphere tour in Port Elizabeth to take on the highflying Southern Kings on Sunday morning (AEST).
At the beginning of the year, the Brumbies would have been favourites for this match but not so now. The Kings are riding high on a three match-winning streak starting with a win over the Waratahs and the most recent a dramatic win over the Sharks last week.
Compare that to the Brumbies who have lost four in a row and have struggled with their attack as they look to break a 210 minute try scoring drought that stretches back to the first half of the Hurricanes game.
The Brumbies have made three changes to their starting side. Chris Alcock is back at openside with Jarrad Butler dropping back to the bench. Tom Banks, who had a good outing against the Blues two games ago, has been promoted to fullback and Aidan Toua moves to the left wing after James Dargaville was left home.
The Kings have made two injury enforced changes to their side. Influential loose forward Chris Cloete has been ruled out with concussion and his absence could be telling. Also out is fullback Masixole Banda with a hamstring injury.
The home side has an ace up their sleeve with former Brumby Lionel Cronje running the show at flyhalf and his inside knowledge of the Brumbies will be crucial.
Cronje is full of confidence and has been rewarded with an invite to the Springbok camp alongside three of his teammates and will be looking to ride that wave to get one over one of his former sides.
These sides have only faced off once before and that match ended in a draw in Canberra way back in 2013 so the Brumbies know they can not underestimate the Kings or it could blow up in their face.
They are also playing at a venue they have never played in before and will be up against a big crowd as the home side rallies to get a big crowd after their recent run of wins.
Prediction
If the Brumbies are to win this and stop their losing streak, they will need to be far more clinical in their execution. They have backed their decisions but the execution in recent games has let them down in key areas of the field that would normally reap rewards.
The Kings like to play a very loose game which could open up gaps in the Brumbies defensive line, which has also racked up the missing tackles stats and I think the Kings will continue their winning streak, but only just.
Teams
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BRUMBIES
1. Ben Alexander
2. Josh Mann-Rea
3. Allan Alaalatoa
4. Rory Arnold
5. Sam Carter (C)
6. Scott Fardy
7. Chris Alcock
8. Jordan Smiler
9. Joe Powell
10. Wharenui Hawera
11. Aidan Toua
12. Kyle Godwin
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Henry Speight
15. Tom Banks
Reserves
16. Robbie Abel
17. Nic Mayhew
18. Leslie Leulua’iali’i-Makin
19. Blake Enever
20. Jarrad Butler
21. De Wet Roos
22. Andrew Muirhead
23. Andrew Smith
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KINGS
1 Schalk van der Merwe
2 Martin Bezuidenhout
3 Ross Geldenhuys
4 Irne Herbst
5 Lubabalo Mtyanda
6 Stefan Willemse
7 Tyler Paul
8 Andisa Ntsila
9 Louis Schreuder
10 Lionel Cronje
11 Makazole Mapimpi
12 Luzuko Vulindlu
13 Berton Klaasen
14 Alshaun Bock
15 Chrysander Botha
Reserves
16 Kurt Haupt
17 Chris Heiberg
18 Dayan van der Westhuizen
19 Mzwanele Zito
20 Thembelani Bholi
21 Johan Steyn
22 Pieter-Steyn de Wet
23 Nicolaas Hanekom
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