The Brumbies have headed to the South African highveld for the first of their two match tour and take on the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Sunday morning.
The Brumbies had a confidence boosting win over the Sharks last week in Canberra and will take that into the match against an unpredictable Cheetahs side.
The Brumbies welcome back winger Henry Speight after a two month layoff due after suffering a broken jaw in the Waratahs match. Speight is the only change to the starting lineup and he takes the place of Joe Tomane who unfortunately is out for over six weeks after breaking his eye socket in the Sharks game.
The fact the Brumbies have been able to name a settled lineup will help them against a side who went down to the Western Force last week. Also giving the side a boost is the number of players announcing their re-signings with the team in the past week.
The Brumbies have won five of the last six matches between the two sides but the Cheetahs were one of the surprise packets in 2013. They came up against the visitors in the quarter final in Canberra, coming up just short in sending that match to extra time so the Brumbies know how important it is to not underestimate them.
The previous two meetings have gone right down to the final siren with the Brumbies getting away with a two and one point win respectively. The Brumbies haven’t won in Bloemfontein since 2009 so it’s been a while between drinks in the city of roses.
Both sides have scored 30 tries this season but it is the defence that has let down the hosts with 43 tries let in. They tend to start games well with a third of their tries scored in the opening quarter but as a consequence, they drop off that intensity with 16 of those 43 tries conceded occurring in the final 20 minutes of games with the best example of that was a 34-10 half time lead over the Chiefs ending up a 43-43 draw.
Their task in knocking off the Brumbies hasn’t been made an easier with attacking live wire Sarel Pretorius out with an ankle injury. They do still have attacking threats in their backline such as Willie le Roux who can open the defence if given a chance. The Brumbies defence will need to be accurate to nullify his threat and shut down any open space.
Here are the key matchups.
Back Row
Whenever Heinrich Brussow is involved the opposition know they are in for a real battle at the breakdown. Fotu Auelua, Jarrad Butler and Ben Mowen will have to target him to keep him out of the game if the Brumbies are to get a chance of any front foot ball.
Back Three
The Cheetahs are known for free flowing football and this is the one part of the game they could get on top of the Brumbies. Robbie Coleman and Jesse Mogg have eleven tries amongst them but haven’t crossed for a few games so will be looking to add to those numbers.
Willie le Roux and Cornal Hendricks have a total of seven tries to their names for the Cheetahs so don’t be surprised to see them heavily involved.
Fearless Prediction
The Brumbies need to win to keep the Force and Waratahs at bay and this one game where the attacking spark of the backline can be put to good use.
Brumbies by 12 with a four try bonus point
[one_half last=”no”]
Brumbies
1. Scott Sio
2. Stephen Moore
3. Ben Alexander
4. Scott Fardy
5. Sam Carter
6. Fotu Auelua
7. Jarrad Butler
8. Ben Mowen (c)
9. Nic White
10. Matt Toomua
11. Robbie Coleman
12. Christian Lealiifano
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Henry Speight
15. Jesse Mogg
Replacements
16. Josh Mann-Rea
17. Ruan Smith
18. JP Smith
19. Jordan Smiler
20. Tom McVerry
21. Conrad Hoffmann
22. Andrew Smith
23. Pat McCabe
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Cheetahs
1. Caylib Oosthuizen
2. Adriaan Strauss (c)
3. Coenie Oosthuizen
4. Willem Serfontein
5. Francois Uys
6. Heinrich Brussow
7. Teboho Mohoje
8. Boom Prinsloo
9. Shaun Venter
10. Johan Goosen
11. Willie le Roux
12. Ryno Benjamin
13. Johaan Sadie
14. Cornal Hendricks
15. Hennie Daniller
Replacements
16. Torsten van Jaarsveld
17. Trevor Nyakane
18. Maks van Dyk
19. Waltie Vermeulen
20. Carel Greeff
21. Renier Botha
22. Elgar Watts
23. Raymond Rhule
[/one_half]
Kick off: 3:10am (Sunday morning AEDT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
AR1: Lourens van der Merwe
AR2: Francois de Bruin
TMO: Johan Greeff
Stats provided by Opta Sports
