A new look Brumbies side heads across the ditch to take on a very confident Chiefs side in their first away game of the season this Friday night. The Brumbies got out of jail against the Cheetahs and that will add to their growing confidence but this task creates new challenges.
The coaching dramas of last week around Jake White are a distant memory and the Chiefs bring a new style of play for the Brumbies to consider. Injury to key play maker Matt Toomua sees a reshuffle in the backline with Christian Lealiifano moving into the 10 jersey. The non-fetcher backrow experiment looks to be shelved with Michael Hooper making his first start of the season. A new look locking combination of former Bay of Plenty player Leon Power and Peter Kimlin will need to have strong games if the Brumbies are stop a Chiefs side that has defeated expected competition front runners the Blues and Crusaders in recent games. The Brumbies may have one card up their sleeve with Henry Speight, Lealiifano and Power having inside knowledge of the Waikato style of play after having stints in the ITM Cup in recent years.
Teams
Brumbies:15. Jesse Mogg, 14. Pat McCabe, 13. Andrew Smith, 12. Joe Tomane, 11. Henry Speight, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 9. Ian Prior, 8. Ben Mowen (c), 7. Michael Hooper, 6. Scott Fardy, 5. Peter Kimlin, 4. Leon Power, 3. Dan Palmer, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Ben Alexander.
Res: 16. Anthony Hegarty, 17. Ruaidhri Murphy, 18. Sam Carter, 19. Ita Vaea, 20. Nic White, 21. Zack Holmes, 22. Cam Crawford.
Chiefs:15. Robbie Robinson, 14. Richard Kahui, 13. Jackson Willison, 12. Sonny Bill Williams, 11. Tim Nani-Williams, 10. Aaron Cruden, 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8. Liam Messam, 7. Sam Cane, 6. Tanerau Latimer, 5. Brodie Retallick, 4. Craig Clarke, 3. Ben Tameifuna, 2. Mahonri Schwalger, 1. Arizona Taumalolo.
Res: 16. Marcel Cummings-Toone, 17. Josh Hohneck, 18. Kane Thompson, 19. Scott Waldrom, 20. Augustine Pulu, 21. Andrew Horrell, 22. Maritino Nemani.
Details
The Chiefs have taken this home game away from ‘The Tron’ and are heading to the tourist mecca of Mount Manganui in the Bay of Plenty.
It looks like referee Ian Smith has recovered from the sprained ankle he suffered during the Reds v. Force game two weeks ago and will be looking to avoid the embarrassing scenario of being replaced again.
Kick off is at 5:35pm (AEDT) and will be shown on Fox Sports 3.
Referee: Ian Smith (Aus)
Assistant referees: Vinny Munro (NZ), Nick Briant (NZ)
TMO: Shane McDermott (NZ)
Game Breaker
The battle of the inside centre position will be interesting as NRL convert Joe Tomane makes his first start in Super Rugby with possibly the biggest assignment in the game right now – trying to close down Sonny Bill Williams. One thing is for sure, it will be a fairer contest than the NZ Heavyweight title fight Williams won recently.
The fearless prediction
The Brumbies find themselves in the lofty heights of fourth position on the table with 12 points with two close wins so far, however this task looks too much for them and I can see the Chiefs winning this one.
